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Job Opportunity: Grow Marijuana for the Canadian Government
This sounds like a fun gig. Whoever lands this job should start a blog:OTTAWA â Health Canada is looking for someone to grow its weed.The department served notice Monday it will soon invite firms to bid on a contract to cultivate and distribute medical marijuana, which is now being done in Flin Flon, Man., by Prairie Plant Systems Inc.The winning firm will be expected to deliver a steady stream of government-approved dope to certified medical, users starting in the fall.â¦Ottawa has been a reluctant supplier of pot since a series of court rulings forced it into the medical marijuana business. [Canadian Press]Some applicants might want to speak with an attorney before sending in a resume. What a delightfully odd situation this is.Anyway, I propose that Marc Emery be sentenced to hard labor managing the facility to resolve his outstanding legal disputes with the U.S. and Canadian governments. Let the punishment fit the crime, I say.
New Study: Most Money Has Cocaine Residue On It
Researchers at Dartmouth have provided further confirmation of the popular rumor:A UMass Dartmouth chemistry professor's study detected trace amounts of cocaine in 67 percent of the dollar bills researchers collected in Southeastern Massachusetts during the past two years."I hope this can give objective data so law enforcement can take the right measures to eliminate, or reduce, these kinds of problems and increase the community's security," Mr. Zuo said. [southcoasttoday.com]I'm not sure what he means here. Obviously, the drug war is precisely the reason we all have drugs stuck to our money. The drug trade is a cash-only business, thanks to prohibition. So every time you reach into your wallet, the far-reaching consequences of our disastrous war on drugs will literally stick to your fingers. There's nothing law-enforcement can do about that, except speak out against this mindless crusade.Really, if there's anything worthwhile to be learned from all this, it's that police must stop confiscating people's money every time a drug sniffing dog hits on it. Over and over we learn about naïve citizens losing their life-savings under our forfeiture laws, often based largely on that singular and clearly absurd criteria. Having traces of drugs on your money doesn't mean you're a drug dealer. It just means you live in a nation with a massive, out of control war on drugs that infects everything it touches.
Hollywood prohibitionists fight back with DEA
Has anyone else noticed the direction that television has taken in it's presenting of the drug war?On the one side is the reform movement and shows like The Wire with it's jury nullification and The S
Clinton Proposes Fixing Stupid Crack Law, While Creating Stupid Meth Law
Hillary Clinton's new anti-crime plan is a typical example of schizophrenic drug war policy-making. First, she gets it right on the crack/powder sentencing disparity:At the federal level, Hillary will reform mandatory minimums for non-violent offenders, starting by eliminating the mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine and eliminating the disparity between crack and powder cocaine.Then she dives headfirst into full-blown meth hysteria, buying into the absurd candy-flavored meth mythology, and proposing a federal methamphetamine sentencing disparity:Make it a federal crime to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance â including meth â that is colored, packaged, or otherwise altered in a way designed to appeal to kids and young people. Last year, the DEA reported that drug dealers are coloring meth crystals and giving them names like "Strawberry Quick." The crystals resemble "pop rocks" and other forms of candy. One goal of dealers is to try to lure in young customers "by making meth seem less dangerous." Hillary will sternly punish any dealer or trafficker of meth that colors, packages, or otherwise alters the drug to appeal to young people.Nevermind that the candy-meth story has been proven to a be a wild exaggeration. Nevermind that it is a textbook case of DEA fear-mongering, volleyed along from gullible reporters to political demagogues, eventually producing the intended effect of people like Clinton offering more money and power to the DEA. And nevermind that this is probably what she meant last week when she said the DEA has "more important work" to do than interfere with state medical marijuana laws.Those things are all frustratingly true, and perfectly typical. What I find truly amazing is that Clinton literally proposes the creation of a sentencing disparity for meth, while in the same breath calling for parity in our cocaine laws. The pink meth hysteria of 2007 is every bit as absurd, if not more so, than was the great crack panic of 1986. I thought we'd all come to terms with the concept that disparate punishments for different forms of the same drug is bad policy, and yet here we are repeating the mistakes of the past just as quickly as we correct them.(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)
YOU BET YOUR LIVELIHOOD
The following is an article that was published under my by-line at www.etherzone.com and www.libertyforall.net. It has received many comments and I solicit more YOU BET YOUR LIVELIHOOD - PART I
British PM Ignores Experts, Set to Increase Penalties for Pot Smokers
Editor's Note: Shane G. Trejo is an intern at StoptheDrugWar.org. His bio is in our "staff" section. As touched upon in Fridayâs edition of the Drug War Chronicle, United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants to reclassify marijuana as a Class B drug. This would restore its pre-2004 classification and change the penalties of marijuana possession from an already draconian two year maximum sentence to five years: Gordon Brown said: "I believe that if we're sending out a signal, particularly to teenagers â and particular those at the most vulnerable age, young teenagers â that in any way we find cannabis acceptable, given all we know about the way that cannabis is being sold in this country, that that is not the right thing to do. "There's a stronger case now for sending out a signal that cannabis is not only illegal, it's unacceptable." What is with all these politicians wanting to send a message to youth that certain activities are bad? It shouldnât be the governmentâs job to act like the mommy and daddy of its citizens. And as always, the push for increased toughness has been sparked for no good reason and without any rationality: The mental health charity Rethink said Mr. Brown should heed the committee's advice. The charity spokesman Paul Corry said: "Gordon Brown should put aside his personal views on cannabis and accept the fact that it does not make sense to reclassify. "Use of the drug has gone down since it was downgraded in 2004 and research by Rethink shows that only 3% of users would consider stopping on the grounds of illegality." ⦠Steve Rolles, of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, told the Today programme reclassification was not the most effective way to alert people to the dangers associated with cannabis. He said: "Class C is still illegal. No one is saying it's harmless. I don't think increasing the prison sentence from two years to five years for possession is necessarily the way to do it. I think if we want to send out messages to young people, rather than mass criminalisation of millions of young people, I think the way to do it would be in effective, targeted public health education." This message-sending nonsense is not only disgusting, it is ineffective. It should be common sense to know that while young people mature, some of them tend to rebel against authority. Taking a hard-line stance on marijuana is only going to make it seem cool and increase its usage amongst young people. In Switzerland, medicalization and harm reduction strategies related to heroin not only reduced crime, reduced usage and allowed addicts to be able to live functional lives but also managed to make the drug less cool to youth. From Issue #439 of the Drug War Chronicle: And the Swiss may have succeeded in making heroin boring, the researchers suggested. "As the Swiss population supported this drug policy, this medicalization of opiate dependence changed the image of heroin use as a rebellious act to an illness that needs therapy," Drs. Nordt and Stohler wrote. "Finally," they add, "heroin seems to have become a 'loser drug,' with its attractiveness fading for young people." Youâd think politicians in general would try to become informed on the issues that they are deciding. But they often donât, and some of them actually pride themselves on being uninformed. Here is a very telling quote from Conservative Party leader David Cameron: "The Conservative party has a very clear view that it should be class B. People have had enough of reviews and the prime minister should stop dithering and get on and make a decision." I am continuously shocked by the attitudes of people like these. Wouldnât you want to wait for reviews and studies to happen before making a decision? This is a decision that will potentially put otherwise law-abiding citizens who happen to smoke pot in jail for up to five years. Wouldnât you want to be as informed as possible before making a decision that could destroy lives and waste precious law enforcement dollars?A disturbing trend amongst some politicians is the belief in state-enforced morality. This misguided belief keeps them from thinking rationally. Out of the issues he could possibly be worried about, PM Brown is worried about pot smokers? His moral grandstanding has made him seemingly oblivious to the fact that the result of marijuana reclassification will be potentially three more years in prison for a completely nonviolent personal act.State-enforced morality is based on the faulty premise that the law needs to protect a societal purity. That is why that in spite of it being obvious that the war on drugs is a failure, it still continues to rage on. The message must be sent at any cost.
INSITE passes federal government panel inquiry.
The only safe injection site in North America has finally been given a passing grade by a panel formed by the federal government to look into the sites value to the community and whether or not it encouraged drug use.(they actually thought that was a possibility).Health Minister Tony Clement empowered this panel and was probably hoping for a reason,any reason,to close the site down.I attended a meeting recently,in which the scientists involved with doing the studies for the site said they were convinced the government had already made up it's mind and that the 23 studies that had already been submitted should have been more than enough.The new report is positive in varying numbers as to cost of providing as opposed to cost benefits from the site.Clement told a reporter from The Province newspaper that a decision would be made as to the extension of the sites exemption from federal drug laws:"some time between now and June 30."The only negative comment came from the Vancouver police who said it was all a big waste of money and was not effective in preventing aids or overdose because it did not serve enough people.Sounds like there should be more safe injection sites but I'm sure that was not the intension.It will be difficult for Clement to close the site now as there has been nothing but positive reports since the sites inception.That hasn't stopped the government from letting the sites staff and directors swing in the wind for over a year so far.What the next three months will tell that they haven't learned since the site opened in 2003 is any ones guess?At least the report is in and there's nothing in it that would justify the sites closure.The report states:The site provides 220,000 injections a year.This is only 5% of yearly injections but is significant.
Gangsters from every where zoning in on Vancouver(RCMP)
The city government just announced a 10 million dollar face lift for the infamous DTES that has housing advocates howling.The RCMP is now telling any one who'll listen that it's too easy for foreign c
legalizt it
it is so dumb to keep marajuana illegal , just look at how meny billions it has cost tax payers and there is more on the streets then there ever was b4 , dealers are getting rich off it and it could be the government , well except there not smart enought to see it,, just think what the government could do with all that extra money! make there pockets fater,kill more innocent people in Iran , but I really doubt if any would be used for our own homeless and starving , thats just not the way this government works
Please Burn the Byrne Grants
Since Scott opined yesterday about the injustice of paramilitarized policing, I thought I would follow up by referring back to a related topic I've addressed from time to time -- coordinated drug busts as taxpayer-funded lobbying by law enforcement agencies, large numbers of raids conducted together as part of statewide operations, intended to garner publicity for a funding program known as the Byrne Grants and thereby avoid Congressional budget cuts. California and Kentucky were among the guilty parties last year, though I suspect they were not the only ones. Kentucky is at again, according to libertarian SWAT-critic Radley Balko of Reason magazine, writing last week for FoxNews.com: Last month, police in Kentucy went on a 24-hour drug raid blitz. According to local media accounts, the raids uncovered 23 methamphetamine labs, seized more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana, identified 16 drug-endangered children and arrested 565 people for illegal drug use. ... "During 'Operation Byrne Blitz,'" a local television station reported, "state police and highway patrol agencies, local police and sheriff's departments, and drug task forces throughout the country conducted undercover investigations, marijuana eradication efforts and drug interdiction activities. The collaborative effort, named for the federal grant program which funds many of the anti-drug efforts, underscored the impact that cuts to this funding could have on local and statewide drug enforcement." Perhaps because they often are tied to drug arrest statistics, it was task funded by the Byrne grants that perpetrated the racist scandals in Tulia and Hearne, in which large numbers of minorities were rounded up and prosecuted, only for it all to turn out to be fabrication. In the Overkill report, Balko has identified the grants as one of the reasons for the overwhelming increase in the use of SWAT teams for minor drug enforcement. The Bush administration, surprisingly, has taken the lead in trying to slash Byrne funding, while Democrats have led efforts to restore it, such as NY Sen. Chuck Schumer at a press conference late last month. A letter signed by 51 senators asked the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations to restore cut Byrne funding, among them presidential contenders Clinton and Obama. To be fair to the candidates, some of our favorite senators unfortunately are on there too, such as Chris Dodd (D=CT), sponsor of the first Senate bill taking on the Higher Education Act drug penalty; Dick Durbin (D-IL); the justice-reform-minded Jim Webb (D-VA), others who've done some good things from time to time. Democrats clearly relish the support of national law enforcement unions, and it must be hard for any politician to resist getting to stand up next to law enforcement leaders at a press conference and call for more money for them. The Byrne grants fund other things besides arrests too, and the reasons for opposing the program may seem like harder sells from the point of view of a member of the "establishment" than it does for us out here. Also to be fair to the Democrats, those 51 signatories included 15 Republicans. A conservative commentator from the Heritage Foundation, Cully Stimson, also commented on FoxNews.com, but making the case for the grants, in Don't Burn the Byrne Grants, back in February. Still, if George Bush can get it right, I think it's lame for Democrats not to, especially when one of the results of this program is what happened in Tulia and Hearne, about as close to overt race-based persecution by government as can be found. I say, do burn the Byrne Grants, in fact please burn them. The fact that law enforcement groups quite transparently lobby for them by conducting massive numbers of drug busts to get attention ought to set off warning bells. Any good things the grants might also support can be funded through other channels. This program is badly structured and misdirected, and it should go.
Free Weed
Stop wasting your seeds. Give them back to the earth that gives them to us. Hemp has been food, fuel, and pharmaceutical - it's time for it to be a weapon. Take it to the rivers, lakes, and streams... leave seeds in puddles and storm drains... press them into some soft bread and feed them to the ducks and geese... press them into some cheese fish bait and go fishing... put them into bird feeders... drop them into storm drains and puddles... press them into some ground meat and leave them for the foxes and coyotes to eat and distribute, feed seeds to your outdoor cat or your dog that you take to shit in the park or neighbors yard... FREE the WEED! SO WHAT if the result is ditch weed... it's NOT about THC content anymore, or profits... it's about freedom of expression, freedom of choice, freedom of weed! Spread the word and your seeds. Enlist you relatives, bud buddies, and neighbors. The D.E.A. CANNOT eradicate marijuana if it grows EVERYWHERE! Your government cannot possibly tear out every wild weed if we all work together... it's time to stop crying about prices and busts and free your weed! Don't throw away the gift of life that is in each seed and don't hoard them... give them all a chance to live. Toss them anywhere there is water- irrigation ditches, lakes, rivers, gardens and parks... anywhere they can haver a chance to grow. If one tenth of all smokers did so there would eventually be too much of our favorite plant to eradicate. Prices for market weed would have to be competitive because there would be free ditch weed for all. And the best part- no more having to bum smoke from a Budd and no more having to bum them some... just send them to the nearest wild crop. It's Time For Revolution! Free weed is just a seed's throw away. So what if the result is ditch weed... it's not about THC content anymore, or profits... it's about freedom of expression, freedom of choice, freedom of weed! Spread the word and your seeds. Get every friend, neighbor, and relative to help fight the war on the war on drugs. Reforest what man has cleared in the name of progress... reclaim earth for our plants. With enough plants we could fight Global Warming! Your government cannot possibly tear out every wild weed if we all work together. In just a few years we could see it overwhelm them to a point where they will have to legalize low THC content cannabis... and that's a move in the right direction. Drop your seeds in every flower pot, planter and garden at your local courthouse, police station, library, and park. Let them know they cannot stop our plant! Repost this message anywhere you can or print it out to pass around.
Defenders of Paramilitary Policing Don't Know What They're Talking About
A recent post in which I criticized no-knock drug raids provoked this response in comments:Guess what??? Drug warrants are served to arrest the bad guy and find the drugs. If you knock and wait what do you think happens to the drugs?? You guessed it, they disappear! I know that you want the drugs to be legal, but theyâre not. So for now, we honest citizens are glad that the police are taking the drugs off the streets and we know that isnât possible if they knock on the drug dealerâs door and ask them to pretty please come out.This is absurd on a couple levels and it deserves to be highlighted since this type of thinking is precisely what we're up against. First, as Dave Borden pointed out, you can't flush a grow room down the toilet. Or a meth lab. Or any substantial quantity of anything. Having relied solely on the "drug flush" justification in defense of aggressive police raids, would the commenter then concede that a more patient approach is ok whenever there's no clear officer safety threat and the items listed in the warrant arenât flushable?Regardless, as weak as the "drug flush" excuse is, it's almost entirely beside the point. We're concerned primarily about the alarming number of completely innocent people that are being shot dead during misunderstandings that are caused by these tactics. Wrong-door raids are so common that the city of Los Angeles has a team specifically for the purpose of cleaning up after wrong address drug raids. Fatal altercations with innocent people who think they're being robbed have become commonplace.It is just amazing that someone could speak out in defense of these raids without addressing this obvious and dramatic problem. I linked to a list of dead innocent people, so the commenter had an opportunity to learn about this. Arguing against us without responding to our primary concern is just a waste of everyone's time. Criticisms of our ideas are welcome here, but in the interest of having a productive debate, I hope that it will be possible to address the central themes when discussing a topic such as this. We're talking about innocent people getting killed, not just guilty people flushing toilets. Any questions?
junkies union report
Anti retro viral drugs causing harm for the injection drug users in chennai. A large percent of drug users have drug resistant virus strains because of non adherence to ART (Anti Retro-viral Therapy). now the problem is when the Drug users infect others, the fresh infection would be drug resistant. the newly infected will not respond to the ARV .This is noted untill recently among the Injection drug using community in chennai.
What's the game?
It would seem that while the world is trying to arrest every drug user and end drug use the medical establishment is giving drugs to children as young as two years old.These are powerful and often unt
Clinton and Obama's Positions on Medical Marijuana Aren't Good Enough
Yesterday, Hillary Clinton echoed Barack Obama's statement that medical marijuana raids are a bad use of law-enforcement resources. Via DrugWarRant:What would you do as president about the federal government not recognizing Oregon's Medical Marijuana Program as legal?We've got to have a clear understanding of the workings of pain relief and the control of pain. And there needs to be greater research and openness to the research that's already been done. I don't think it's a good use of federal law-enforcement resources to be going after people who are supplying marijuana for medicinal purposes.So you'd stop the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's raids on medical marijuana grows?What we would do is prioritize what the DEA should be doing, and that would not be a high priority. There's a lot of other more important work that needs to be done. [wweek.com]Honestly, this "not a good use of resources" argument for ending medical marijuana raids is the weakest excuse possible for taking the right position on this. Of course it's not a good use of resources, but that isn't why we should refrain from harassing sick people. We don't do that because it's just wrong. Why can't you say that? Are you afraid?This fiscal argument against medical marijuana raids isnât just incoherent, it's politically useless. When polling data shows overwhelming public support for medical marijuana, and John McCain looks vicious and cruel by comparison, it's time to go on the offensive. There's no sense in failing to call out McCain on his wildly unpopular position. But you can't accuse him of cruelty unless you acknowledge that this is genuinely cruel and not just a poor investment.I don't think this is necessarily a matter of educating Clinton and Obama about where the people stand on medical marijuana. I think they know that. Unfortunately, I fear it's all they know. They've stumbled cluelessly into the right position, but they lack the will and/or the knowledge to debate it and capitalize on the easy political points it offers them. The way the winds are blowing, I'd wager that either of them could have clinched the democratic nomination already simply by speaking more bravely about this and other drug policy issues. That sure would have livened up this mindnumbing spectacle for one thing. They'd never attempt it for fear of nasty attack ads and so forth in the general election, but since it's going to come up anyway, you're always better off throwing the first punch. Senators, the next time someone asks you about medical marijuana, tell us that you know it works and that's why you support it. Tell us that John McCain thinks it should be a crime and that he's wrong. Not only is this the best political answer, it's the truth.Update: In comments, MPP's Bruce Mirken points to recent statements from Obama that go a bit further than Hillary's remarks yesterday. I am still dissatisfied, but I suppose it could now be claimed that Obama's position isn't confined to just the "bad use of resources" argument. He has acknowledged the legitimacy of medical use in certain circumstances, which is a step in the direction I'm advocating.Update II: Some have argued in comments that I should have mentioned Ron Paul and Mike Gravel's positions on medical marijuana in this post. I disagree. My central point is that the democratic nominee would be wise to improve their medical marijuana position in anticipation of the general election against John McCain. To my knowledge, neither Ron Paul nor Mike Gravel will be running in the general election. We've covered those candidates previously, but with respect to their supporters, I don't consider them relevant to the specific argument I'm making here. It's not that I don't appreciate the contributions of Paul and Gravel, but this post isn't about them. (TThis blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)
Man arrested for growing poppies
In an article in yesterday's paper I found an article from Alberta,in which a 63 year old man was arrested for cultivating poppy plants on his property.This is the most intrusive,cruel,unjust and out
Bush and the Drug Czar Want You to Pay For the Mexican Drug War
President Bush and Drug Czar John Walters want Congress to give Mexico $1.4 billion of our money to waste on the drug war. Mexico can't afford a massive drug war like ours, so we're supposed to just go ahead and buy them one. It's a terrible plan.Just listen to all the stuff the Drug Czar wants to buy for them. It's like building decades of drug war infrastructure overnight. The very fact that you need all this stuff ought to provide a clue that drug prohibition is a raging disaster of an idea:*Non-intrusive inspection equipment, ion scanners, canine units for Mexican customs, for the new federal police and for the military to interdict trafficked drugs, arms, cash and persons.*Technologies to improve and secure communications systems to support collecting information as well as ensuring that vital information is accessible for criminal law enforcement.*Technical advice and training to strengthen the institutions of justice â vetting for the new police force, case management software to track investigations through the system to trial, new offices of citizen complaints and professional responsibility, and establishing witness protection programs.*Helicopters and surveillance aircraft to support interdiction activities and rapid operational response of law enforcement agencies in Mexico.*Initial funding for security cooperation with Central America that responds directly to Central American leadersâ concerns over gangs, drugs, and arms articulated during July SICA meetings and the SICA Security Strategy.*Includes equipment and assets to support counterpart security agencies inspecting and interdicting drugs, trafficked goods, people and other contraband as well as equipment, training and community action programs in Central American countries to implement anti-gang measures and expand the reach of these measures in the region.Of course, the fact that we're even talking about this just shows the pathetic state of affairs we've achieved after decades of drug war demolition tactics. With nothing to show for the untold billions we've already poured down the drug war drain, our tough drug generals just want more money and more time. The drug cartels are already funded by U.S. drug dollars. If we buy Mexico an entire anti-drug army to fight them, we'll be funding both sides of a brutal war in a foreign nation all because we can't come to terms with our own drug use.The violence and chaos has to stop and it won't stop if we spend $1.4 billion to continue it. The mess in Mexico is our responsibility, but only because we've been so stupid about drugs for so long. This war can only end one way and that is to bring home the soldiers and send in the tax collectors.
SWAT Officers Brought Children Along on a Drug Raid
Over and over again we're told that dynamic entry no-knock drug raid tactics are necessary because drug suspects are armed and dangerous. Anyone who suggests otherwise is accused of hostility to law-enforcement, and yet the very officers conducting these raids routinely demonstrate nonchalance about the supposed risks. Via The Agitator:ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Two SWAT officers are being counseled after bringing their young children along with them on a drug raid.The Orange County SWAT team searched a house on Napoleon Street Friday, arresting three people and recovering guns and drugs.The two officers who brought their children on the raid will not be disciplined. [local6.com]Remember when police brought Shaquille O'Neal along on a drug raid? His body itself is worth millions and his massive size makes him an easy target, but they brought him along anyway.The point here isn't that police shouldn't bring children or NBA stars along on drug raids, although one certainly wonders why they would do that. The point is that if police think these raids are safe enough for children, then the "officer safety" arguments they use to justify aggressive entry tactics appear disingenuous. If these raids are safe enough for civilians, can't we find a way to make them safe for the innocent people that keep getting killed?