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Europe: Anthrax Heroin Toll Rises as England Marks First Death
English authorities announced Wednesday that a Blackpool heroin user died of anthrax, making him the first fatality in England from what is apparently a batch of heroin contaminated with anthrax. The bad dope has been blamed for nine deaths in Scotland and one in Germany since the outbreak began in December. The anthrax fatality announcement from the National Health Service (NHS) in Blackpool came just five days after the Health Protection Agency issued a statement warning that a female heroin user in London had been hospitalized with anthrax. The spate of anthrax cases among heroin users is baffling police and health experts, who have yet to actually come up with any heroin samples containing anthrax spores. There is speculation that the heroin could have been contaminated at its likely source in Afghanistan, perhaps from contaminated soils or animal skins, or that it was present in a cutting agent added there or at some other point on its transcontinental trek to northern Europe. The cases in Germany and England have no known link to those in Scotland, leading to fears that tainted dope could be widespread. On the other hand, the numbers infected remain relatively small. Although harm reductionists and drug user advocates have called for measures including public information campaigns among users, swift access to drug treatment, and making prescription heroin more widely available, British health officials continue to do little more than tell users to quit. Dr. Arif Rajpura, director of public health at NHS Blackpool, was singing from the same official hymnal this week. He repeated warnings for users to stop using and advised them to be on the lookout for symptoms of anthrax, including rashes, swelling, severe headaches, and high fevers. "Heroin users are strongly advised to cease taking heroin by any route, if at all possible, and to seek help from their local drug treatment services. This is a very serious infection for drug users and prompt treatment is crucial," he said.
What's more important again?
I live in the "almost as backwards as Mississippi" state of Alabama and in November of 2009 a North Alabama judge put the drug war in perspective for me.
Various Interesting Links
The El Paso City Council is back with another drug policy reform resolution. LEAP has the details.CBS won't let NORML buy a ridiculously huge ad in Times Square because it's too political, even though CBS ran a super-controversial anti-abortion spot during the Super Bowl. Michael Savage hates marijuana. I don't even know where to begin with this. Listen at your own risk. Pete Guither just ruined your spring break plans. Well, actually it's the drug war's fault.
What's the Point of Asking Obama to Legalize Marijuana? I'll Explain.
In comments, Giordano questions the value of constantly confronting the President about marijuana legalization:In the end, it makes no sense at all to ask Obama for anything more than what heâs already done for medical marijuana. His candor on the subject of cannabis will probably wait for the day heâs no longer president, just as Bill Clinton waited before scoffing at U.S. marijuana penalties.All of this is certainly worth explaining to anyone who genuinely expects the President to abolish marijuana prohibition. Yes, it's helpful to understand that he's not going to do that, neither next week nor on his last day in office. But I donât think any willingness on the President's part to publicly support legalization is necessary to justify the strategic efficacy of hounding him about it at almost every opportunity.I think we score points simply by making ourselves visible. Our early success at saturating the President's web forums was followed by an unprecedented surge in favorable media coverage. By the time the Michael Phelps saga erupted, we'd already established marijuana reform as one of the leading political issues on the internet. Web trends are measured in dollar signs like never before and we're now witnessing the rewards of our proven ability to generate clicks. Obama's new medical marijuana policy followed on the heels of an epic escalation in positive marijuana reporting from the mainstream press. The White House's decision to leak the story to the AP on a Sunday night was a powerful exhibit in their newfound faith that you could actually score political points by placating people like us. It's hardly the end of marijuana prohibition, but it shows that we're doing something right.
Canada: Federal Government to Appeal Ruling Okaying Vancouver Safe Injection Site
The Conservative federal government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper will ask the Canadian Supreme Court to overturn a provincial court ruling that okayed Vancouver's InSite safe injection site. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the government will appeal because the case raised important questions about the division of powers among the federal and provincial governments, the CBC reported Tuesday. InSite in the only supervised drug injection site in North America. It has been in place since 2003, when British Columbia health authorities won a temporary exemption from Canada's federal drug law. While the then Liberal government approved, the now governing Conservatives do not. InSite originally won a three-year exemption from the federal drug law. Under tremendous pressure, the Conservatives grudgingly gave InSite a 15-month extension, then extended it to 22 months ending in June 2008. But fearing the Conservatives' intentions, InSite operator the Portland Hotel Society, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), and two InSite clients filed a lawsuit in the BC courts seeking to have the provincial government, which under Canadian law is responsible for health care, declared the sole authority over InSiteânot the federal government and the federal drug laws. InSite and its supporters won in the BC Supreme Court in 2008 and won again last month in the province's highest court, the Court of Appeals. It is those decisions, which puts decisions on whether to keep InSite open firmly in the hands of BC health officials, that the federal government now seeks to overturn. In his remarks Tuesday, Justice Minister Nicholson said nothing about shutting down InSite, instead saying the appeal was about clarifying provincial versus federal powers. "The case we'll be presenting before the court is to ask for clarification," he said. "I think it is important to do that." But Portland Hotel Society director Mark Townsend was running out of patience with the Conservatives. "The courts have now ruled twice in favor of InSite," he said in a statement Tuesday. "Last time, they thought the feds were so out of line they made them pay all the costs. We wish Stephen Harper would stop wasting court time and the taxpayers' money and start helping to solve the drug problem in our community."
Harm Reduction: Washington Senate Passes Good Samaritan Bill; Would Protect Against Prosecution in Overdose Cases
The Washington state Senate Friday passed SB 5516, the 911 Good Samaritan Act, on a vote of 47-1. One member was absent. The bill now goes to the House. The measure provides immunity from prosecution for drug possession offenses for overdose victims and people who seek medical assistance for overdose victims. It does not grant immunity from prosecution for drug distribution offenses. It also allows expanded access to naloxone, a powerful opiate antagonist that can bring people back from the brink of death from overdoses in a matter of moments. The bill comes as the number of drug overdose deaths in Washington state have increased from around 403 in 1999 to 707, or nearly two a day, in 2006. Drug overdose is now the second leading cause of accidental death in the state, second only to traffic accidents. The bill was opposed by the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, who argued that because there was no budget for publicizing the bill, it would not affect drug-taking behaviors, and thus would be no more than another complicating factor in drug prosecutions. Drug overdose fatalities now outrank traffic accidents as the leading cause of accidental deaths in more than a dozen states. But only one state, New Mexico, has approved a Good Samaritan law. Now, perhaps Washington will be next.
Why Do We Even Have a Drug Czar?
Tim Lynch at the Cato Institute has a nice piece in The Washington Times calling for the total elimination of the drug czar's office. It costs American taxpayers $400 million a year just to have these guys walk around cheerleading for the drug war, and they're not even good at it.If drug czar Gil Kerlikoswke is serious about ending the war mentality that has long defined our nation's anti-drug crusade, he should begin by firing himself Michael Douglas-style, and walking off into the sunset. I'm sure Cato could find a desk for him.
Sing about Freedom, Sing about Justice!
Take heart, the American dream comes directly from God as do all dreams of freedom around the world.. The "Spirit of '76" was the Holy Spirit and is our true North!
Trying to stop the arrest of the young Houstonians for cops personal gain
I was recently arrested for growing 3 plants for personal use in Houston. Iâve never done anything illegal to be able to put me in jail before and have no prior incidents with the law that required me to get ticketed or mistreated. We have friends of the family who are police officers and know for the good part that they are just doing their jobs and I was doing something bad. My parents had learned that I had been smoking marijuana for about 3 years they didnât approve because itâs illegal but even though they never acknowledged it I believe they saw it was me deal with my depression. I knew the risk when growing but too many close calls with police and once with a very understanding one that had stopped me for my head lights being off at dusk. He let me go with the message do it at home because I canât stop you there, and the obvious greed from drug dealers stop me from buying weed since Sept. and growing seemed to be a safer and cheaper source of action. Sadly I was mistaken and watched videos about my rights and the way cops abuse theirs too late. I was good enough to hide the plants from my parents but not from Houston narcotics agents. I just bailed out and am trying to get ready for court and still I donât fully understand how the cops were allowed to walk onto my parentâs property without any consent from us. I understand the knock method police use but what if the officer never knocked does he have the right to walk to the back of the house without any consent. Is that ever legal?
Ibogaine Pioneer Howard Lotsof Dead at Age 66
Ibogaine advocate Howard Lotsof, 66, died January 31 in Staten Island, New York. Liver cancer killed him. In 1962, Lotsof, a Bronx native, was strung out on heroin when he ingested a sample of the West African psychoactive substance ibogaine. Rocked by the hallucinatory experience, Lotsof was even more stunned when he realized that after ibogaine he no longer felt compelled to use heroin. For 20 years after that, Lotsof went about his life in the television and movie business, but when an accident cut that career short, he returned to ibogaine and began working to make it available as an addiction treatment. In 1986, he founded a company, NDA International, and began treating clients in Amsterdam. Lotsof originated numerous patents for ibogaine in treating addictions and provided data to the National Institute on Drug Abuse that laid the groundwork for still ongoing research on ibogaine and its use as an anti-addictive substance. More than 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers on ibogaine have been published so far. Thanks almost entirely to Lotsof and his supporters, including Dana Beal and Cures Not Wars, an international network of ibogaine clinics is now in place and treating addicted clients. Lotsof was not a doctor or scientistâhis college degree was in filmâbut an outsider who still managed to bring ibogaine in from the cold and win it academic and scientific respect. He will be missed.
Police Put Warning Signs in Front of Drug Houses (Um, Isn't That Free Advertising?)
If you thought the cops had run out of dumb drug war ideas, you were so wrong:BELLEVILLE -- The Belleville Police Department has a new tactic in fighting the drug trade in the city -- signs pointing out to the public houses and apartments where police say drugs are sold.A sign placed outside an apartment building Wednesday at 322 W. H St. said in bold, red letters: "Warning! Drug House; Enter at your own risk." An arrow on the sign points to the building, and the address is attached to the bottom of the sign. [Belleville News Democrat]Are you serious? It kinda sounds like they're saying it's ok to go in there if you're willing to accept the risk. But here's where it gets really ridiculous:The police have only two signs, and when they use them at a location, it'll likely only be for a day, and only during daytime hours.â¦When asked whether he thinks the signs will advertise where people can buy drugs, Sax said that those buying the drugs probably already knew to get them there in the first place.No, I don't think that's how it works. Criminals don't all automatically know each other. I might be smart enough not to go knocking on doors at designated drug houses, but I'm not addicted to crack. If there's actually someone actively selling drugs inside, you shouldnât be advertising it, and if there isn't, you shouldn't be humiliating the families of drug offenders who've already been arrested or run out of town. What I really don't get about any of this is why police would even consider putting up signs that make them look like incompetent idiots. Is it supposed to make anyone feel safer that the police know where the problem houses are, but can't seem to do anything about it other than put up temporary signs?The irony here is that marking locations where drugs are sold and warning people to enter at their own risk isn't actually a bad idea at all. But if it's going to work, you have to begin by regulating these businesses.
Obama's Drug War Budget Destroys the Myth of Change
For a whole year now, the new administration has been proudly insisting over and over again that they're taking drug policy in a new direction, abandoning the "drug war" approach and prioritizing treatment instead of more arrests and incarceration. Apparently, someone forgot they'd have to release a budget for all this, which would kinda blatantly expose the illusion that anything's changed:Anyone can just plainly see the two towers of "Domestic Law Enforcement" and "Interdiction," that together dwarf the resources to be spent on treatment. What the drug czar's office is calling a "Balanced Approach to Drug Control" is so obscenely imbalanced that anybody who knows how to read a bar graph could see it without having to put their contacts in. We're still spending twice as much on the war as we are on treatment for the actual people our drug policy is supposed to help. The urge to describe this as "balanced" is just the trademark dishonesty we've come to expect from the drug czar's office anytime they're required to sum up their agenda in one sentence. The whole situation is even more appalling when you consider the phenomenal lengths this administration has taken to convince everyone that their drug policy priorities aren't like this. I suppose it's a measure of success for our movement that we've at least made it unacceptably controversial for the White House to take any pride in its drug war spending, but that's still an early stage in the long battle to take interdiction off the table and leave enforcement to the states. If Obama hopes to placate the public's growing disgust with the drug war status quo, he'll have to pay much more than lip service to the reform of our drug policy. Everything people hate about the war on drugs must be changed; the swelling prison population, the persecution of the sick, the subsidization of widespread violence, the vast corruption and the perpetual recycling of so many ridiculous lies all must come to an end or else the people refusing to end it will be blamed hard for the damage it keeps causing. The public relations holiday that followed Obama's improved policy on medical marijuana is officially over and the reluctant support he enjoyed from so many reformers in 2008 will be hard to come by if the drug war is uglier in 2012 than it is today.
Obama, YouTube, and Marijuana Legalization
As I discussed last night, yesterday's special YouTube Interview with the President conspicuously -- though predictably -- excluded the top-rated questions from the contest, all of which had to with legalizing marijuana. So now everyone's calling out YouTube for censoring their own forum, the whole purpose of which was to ask Obama the questions that got the most online votes. Since YouTube publicly credited itself with deciding which questions were asked, I guess it's only fair that they take the blame for blatantly ignoring the single biggest constituency that participated in their forum. But let's not forget that it's the President himself who has twice failed to form even one intelligent sentence in response to the marijuana questions that continue to dominate these forums. He's proven that he can't or won't discuss this issue seriously, so if YouTube sought to avoid another embarrassing controversy, it's at least partially the President's fault for setting such pathetic precedent.
Legalize Willie Nelson's Tour Bus
I don't usually cover celebrity pot-bust stories, but the repeated harassment of Willie Nelson's tour bus is ridiculous and it needs to stop:The strong odor of marijuana wafting from the window of a Willie Nelson tour bus led to six members of the country singer's entourage getting busted in Duplin County for possession of marijuana and three-fourths of a quart of moonshine, law enforcement officials said. [News Observer]Seriously, if anyone has a problem with what a bunch of aging musicians do in their tour bus, then don't go in there. If these guys were a legitimate threat to public safety, it shouldn't take a probable cause search to catch them. If they'd run a Church choir off the highway wasted on shrooms and moonshine, that would be a different story, but they're super old and it's clear by now that they can be trusted. To dispel any confusion, I propose federal legislation clarifying the right of Willie Nelson and his associates to do whatever they feel is necessary in order to have an awesome time. The smell of potent cannabis emanating from their tour bus should be interpreted as a sign that everything is fine.
Obama Avoids Questions About Legalizing Marijuana (Again)
Another online Q&A contest concluded Monday without any straight answers from the President about why marijuana remains illegal. YouTube, which sponsored the forum, declined to ask the President a single marijuana-related question, despite overwhelming public demand.As was the case with every previous online forum of this sort, questions about marijuana legalization were not only prominent, they were by far the most popular vote-getters.These are the top three highest-rated questions from the entire contest:"Mr. President, When you asked the country to give you questions, one of the most asked was "Are you going to legalize Marijuana". When you read it, you laughed like it wasnt serious. Why is that?"None, Florida1,906 Votes"What are your plans for cannabis legalization?"Anonymous, Oklahoma1,783 Votes                         "Why don't you legalize marijuana, it seems like a great way to gain tax money, and people should have to right to use it if they please, and it would cripple gang activity? Do you plan to?"Lussy Picker, Kentucky1,766 Votes            Sadly, none of these questions were answered. In contrast, the most popular question that wasn't about marijuana received 1,331 votes and, yes, the President answered that one. It was about net neutrality, which Obama says he supports. So, at least we'll continue to enjoy free speech on the internet, even as the White House pretends not to hear us.Incredibly, this political popularity contest was broken up into categories including Jobs & the Economy, Health Care, Energy & Environment, Foreign Policy & National Security, Education, Financial Reform, and Government Reform, yet it was the "Other" section which drew the most votes, due entirely to its emphasis on legalizing marijuana. "Other" has become a de-facto euphemism for drug policy reform in several of these White House sponsored forums, which wouldn't keep happening if "Crime & Drug Policy" were given its own well-deserved category alongside the other issues that supposedly encompass the modern political landscape. Instead, the whole online voting process has become a self-evident mockery, as the contest's democratic structure is violated time and again simply to avoid answering one simple question. But if you're frustrated by all of this, don't be. We're winning the online debate, and we're doing so at a time when online outreach is important enough to the White House that they keep coming back for more.
Medical Marijuana: Colorado Bill to Rein-In Booming Scene Passes Senate
Stunned at the rapid increase in the number of registered medical marijuana patients in the state, the Colorado Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday to impose new restrictions on physicians who make medical marijuana recommendations. The Senate voted 34-1 to pass SB 109. Sponsored by Sens. Chris Romer (D-Denver) and Nancy Spence (R-Centennial), the bill would require physicians who make medical marijuana recommendations to have a "bona fide" relationship with patients, including treating a patient before he applies for medical marijuana, conducting a thorough physical exam, and providing follow-up care. The bill would also bar doctors from being paid by dispensaries to write recommendations and require that they not have any restrictions on their medical licenses. Doctors would have to keep records of all medical marijuana recommendations and provide them to state health agencies seeking to investigate doctors for violating state laws. The bill would also require persons between 18 and 21 to get recommended by two different physicians. Colorado began registering medical marijuana patients in June 2001 after voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing its use. For years, the number of patients hovered around 2,000, but after state courts last year threw out a regulation limiting the number of patients caregivers could provide for to five and the Obama administration signaled that it was not going to interfere in medical marijuana states, the numbers exploded. By last September, there were more than 17,000 registered patients, and now the number is near 40,000. A similar boom has gone on with dispensaries, with Colorado now second only to California in their numbers. The bill was supported by Colorado law enforcement and the Colorado Medical Association, but was opposed by most medical marijuana patients and providers. "This is the beginning of the end of the Wild West" for the state's booming medical-marijuana industry, said bill sponsor Sen. Chris Romer. "This bill is an unprecedented assault on the doctor-patient privilege that would hold medical marijuana doctors to a higher standard than any other doctor," medical marijuana attorney Robert Correy told lawmakers. "This would cause human suffering. The most sick and the most poor would be disproportionately harmed. You're going to see the Board of Medical Examiners conducting witch hunts against medical marijuana providers." The bill now moves to the House.
Obama Launches YouTube Forum on Legalizing Marijuana
Once again, the President wants to know what you think about marijuana policy. His latest online voting forum is sponsored by YouTube, and you can submit your questions about marijuana legalization either on video or in writing.Participants are asked to focus their questions on how legalization will impact the following areas:Jobs & the EconomyHealth careEnergy & EnvironmentForeign Policy & National SecurityEducationFinancial ReformGovernment ReformAfter looking around a bit, I've noticed that some internet trolls have been attempting to disrupt the dialogue by submitting questions that have nothing to do with the legalization of marijuana. Some of the categories include a number of non-marijuana-related questions, so please click over there and use your up and down votes to keep the conversation focused by making sure the marijuana questions stay at the top in each section.With all the problems facing our nation, obsessively discussing marijuana legalization on the internet is more important than ever. After all, if people get sick of hearing about this, there's only one way to shut us up.Update: Just kidding. I'm pretty sure the forum isn't intended to discuss marijuana legalization exclusively. But you'd almost think it was, considering how many people have questions for the President about why our marijuana laws haven't been fixed yet. I wonder how many more of these online votes we have to dominate before we get a straight answer.
Cannabis Cups Causing Controversy in Medical Marijuana States
Predictably, the trajectory towards more compassionate marijuana policies brings people out of the shadows to celebrate this unique and infinitely useful plant. Unlike other medicines, cannabis comes in a thousand forms and lends itself to inquiry and discussion comparable to that of music, art, food and wine. Mix in the fact that a lot of people are able to appreciate it openly for the first time in their lives and it should come as no surprise that they're organizing events to see who can grow the best stuff.Such contests generated controversy this week, raising the question of whether medical marijuana patients might be enjoying their freedom at the expense of further political progress. In Colorado, an upcoming event prompted a critical editorial questioning whether a pot contest serves any legitimate medical purpose. Meanwhile, in Michigan, a similar event was shut down after law-enforcement officials questioned its legality due to the state's tight restrictions on distribution by caregivers. Despite overwhelming public support for medical marijuana, the idea of patients convening to consume large quantities of top-grade medicine seems a bit of a stretch for some observers.Surely, we can expect more of this sort of thing, and I understand the enthusiasm for bringing together a community that's been forced underground for generations. But there's also a line that has to be drawn somewhere and those whose states are ahead of the curve should really consider the impact of their approach on those still fighting for reform elsewhere in the country. The example you set inevitably impacts the tone of the debates taking place elsewhere. The "lessons of California" have inspired much more restrictive approaches in subsequent medical marijuana states, resulting in fewer patients receiving the care and protection that they need. Yet the problem in California was never really the distribution of medicine to a large patient population, but rather the conspicuous magnitude of the cultural and industrial phenomenon that Prop. 215 became. Obviously, to us at least, any difficulties adapting to the new reality of medical marijuana in America are to be blamed first and foremost on the drug war, the Feds, sometimes the press, and absolutely the local governments that failed to regulate the industry in the hope that it would just go away. But as decades of hysteria and injustice begin finally to subside, our work isn't necessarily going to get any easier. Pot-tasting parties are awesome, I'm sure, but they're awfully far removed from the professional advocacy that got us to this point and if they piss off even a few people, then maybe it's better to wait or just invite people you know. Â Marijuana remains illegal for healthy people everywhere in America, thus the examples set today by the medical marijuana community will inevitably shape the political landscape and determine the future of the movement for complete and permanent reform.
Ruining Young Lives for Marijuana Possession
Marijuana undermines academic performance, they claim, so the punishment for marijuana is that you're not allowed to go to school anymore:Three Liberty High School students were expelled for possession of what police and district officials say they suspect is marijuana on Jan. 13, 20 and 21.School employees found a 15-year-old student in possession of a small amount of marijuana on campus Jan. 13.School officials proceeded to ask questions about other students who might have marijuana on campus as well⦠[Issaquah Press]Yeah! Get the kids to rat on their friends so you can expel as many of them as possible. Teach them responsibility by taking away the one responsibility they have. Make them be normal by separating them from their peers and leaving them with no one to turn to.And if these kids grow up to be total losers, we'll blame it on the marijuana.
Obama Chooses Terrible Nominee to Head the DEA
After stalling for a whole year, the White House has finally announced Obama's choice to head the DEA. And there isnât anything good to be said about it:For those hoping that Barack Obama would wage the war on drugs less aggressively than his predecessor, this is not a good sign: Yesterday he announced that the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration will be Michele Leonhart, a career DEA agent who has been the agency's deputy administrator since March 2004 and its acting administrator since November 2007. [Reason]For all the recent rhetoric about changing the focus of our drug policy and moving beyond the war mentality that's gripped this issue for decades, the White House now plans to promote a Bush Administration holdover who couldnât more perfectly embody the ugly history we're all working so hard to put behind us. It was Leonhart who gave marching orders in the federal war on medical marijuana, right up to and even after the Obama Administration pledged to respect state laws. She celebrated the inauguration with a cleverly-timed, though transparently dishonest move to continue blocking medical marijuana research despite the ruling of a DEA administrative law judge. She's been closely tied to the sketchiest career informant in DEA history, even making light of his reputation for perjury. And she even managed to get her name in the press by wasting $123,000 in taxpayer money on a private flight to Colombia, even though the DEA owns 106 airplanes.Leonhart's nomination is an affront to the Obama Administration's promises of a more enlightened drug policy approach. It's also a clear statement that they don't think we're paying attention to the faces behind the drug war's rich and recent history of arrogance, ignorance and injustice. Let's prove them wrong by opposing this embarrassing nomination as loudly as we can.Please contact the White House today to tell them that Michele Leonhart's DEA career has already gone on far too long.