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Heroin is "Good for Your Health": Occupation Forces support Afghan Narcotics Trade (May 10, 2007)
"The occupation forces in Afghanistan are supporting the drug trade, which brings between 120 and 194 billion dollars of revenues to organized crime, intelligence agencies and Western financial institutions."

U.S., allies seen as losing drug war (May 7, 2007)
"The United States and its Latin American allies are losing a major battle in the war on drugs, according to indicators that show cocaine prices dipped for most of 2006 and U.S. users were getting more bang for their buck."

101-year-old Zambian man nabbed over cannabis cultivation, trafficking (May 3, 2007)
"DEC spokesperson Rosten Chulu confirmed the arrest of Timothy Chilekwa, a peasant farmer of Namembo village in Southern province who was born in 1906. Chulu said the old man was nabbed for alleged unlawful cultivation of cannabis weighing 1.2 tons. He was also found trafficking two sacks of cannabis weighing 6. 95 kg, Chulu said. The spokesperson said the 101-year-old would appear in court soon."

Was Timothy Leary Right? (May 3, 2007)
"Are psychedelics good for you? It's such a hippie relic of a question that it's almost embarrassing to ask. But a quiet psychedelic renaissance is beginning at the highest levels of American science, including the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Harvard, which is conducting what is thought to be its first research into therapeutic uses of psychedelics (in this case, Ecstasy) since the university fired Timothy Leary in 1963. But should we be prying open the doors of perception again? Wasn't the whole thing a disaster the first time? The answer to both questions is yes."

The Farce of the War on Drugs (May 1, 2007)
"My brother Howard Wooldridge served as a decorated police officer and detective in Lansing, Michigan for 18 years. During that time, he collared killers, drunk drivers, child molesters, rapists, wife beaters and drug dealers. What he learned launched him on a crusade to stop the federal government’s useless 35 year 'War on Drugs.'"

Coca Growers Shake the Andes Once Again (April 27, 2007)
"During the last few days, coca growers, especially in Peru and Colombia, have been in the news again, as their actions have given the media something to talk about."

LSD as Therapy? Write about It, Get Barred from US (April 27, 2007)
"BC psychotherapist denied entry after border guard googled his work."

No Jail for Willie Nelson on Drug Charge (April 25, 2007)
While the editor of DrugWar.com applauds this decision by the judge, I can't help but wonder how hard the judge would have thrown the book at me for the exact same offense.

The War on Salvia Divinorum Heats Up (April 14, 2007)
"Middlebury, Vermont, this week declared a public health emergency to prevent a local business from selling it. It's already illegal in five states -- Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Delaware -- and a number of towns and cities across the country, and now politicians in at least seven other states have filed bills to make it illegal there. For the DEA, it is a 'drug of concern.'"

Book Offer: Lies, Damn Lies, and Drug War Statistics (April 14, 2007)
"Normally when we publish a book review in our Drug War Chronicle newsletter, it gets readers but is not among the top stories visited on the site. Recently we saw a big exception to that rule when more than 2,700 of you read our review of the new book Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy."

Plant growers served search warrant (April 11, 2007)
"Three WSU students were surprised when a plant they were growing in their closet was mistaken for marijuana."

California in bid to impose 7.25% sales tax on cannabis (April 10, 2007)
"For decades, smoking marijuana has been an illicit affair, a key anti-establishment ritual for America's counter-culture underground. But the legalisation of the drug for medicinal purposes in California has presented its advocates with a dilemma: to remain firmly on the wrong side of the law or accept a demand to pay taxes on its sale."

The Other War: Democratic Candidates are Deafeningly Silent on the Drug War (April 9, 2007)
"There is a major disconnect in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House. While all the top candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote, they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those constituencies: the failed War on Drugs, a war that has morphed into a war on people of color."

Ex-officer likens drug war to Prohibition (April 8, 2007)
"Retired police officer Peter Christ on Tuesday compared the contemporary war on drugs to National Prohibition of the 1920s."

Minnesota drug laws: Are they too harsh? (April 8, 2007)
Momentum gathers for review of sentencing rules

Drug Czar Blasted for Lack of Leadership (April 8, 2007)
"During the course of research for this series, it became apparent that many prominent players in the war on drugs don't have many compliments for the current drug czar, John Walters."

Is the Drug War Nearing an End? (April 8, 2007)
"Little by little by little there is some hope that the "war" on drugs is becoming a political issue - the first step in undoing a set of policies that make little sense no matter how you look at them."

Law Enforcement Group Visits Maine To Advocate For Legalization Of Drugs (April 8, 2007)
"LEAP, or Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, says it has 5,000 members, made up mostly of retired and active law enforcement professionals. The group tours the country speaking to various civic groups about what they call a $60 billion failed war on drugs."

Afghans pin hopes on a new economy (April 8, 2007)
"As a competitive economy awakens in one of the world's poorest countries, the residents of Kabul are jockeying to get ahead in a city flush with cash from US soldiers, foreign aid workers, new investors, parliamentarians, and drug traffickers."

Salvadoran Murders in Guatemala (April 8, 2007)
"If the trip to Guatemala was a fiasco, Colombia was no better, Bush's arrival in Bogotá couldn't have happened at a worse time as every moment ticked off another scandal, some of them leading in the direction ofo President Uribe's office, and nothing that Bush or Uribe president could say concealed the fact that the Colombia phase of the U.S. anti-drug war was more dead than alive, which was even more certain when it came to extraditing Colombian suspected felons to the U.S."

Analysis: U.S. anti-drug war in Afghanistan (April 8, 2007)
"In a bluntly worded letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the lawmakers said inter-agency rivalry and U.S. policy failures in Afghanistan risked allowing it to slide back into chaos."

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories (April 7, 2007)
"A Georgia fire captain gets caught peddling coke, a pair of New Haven narcs lose their jobs, a former Mississippi police chief cops a plea, and a former Ohio cop goes back to prison. Let's get to it...."

Methamphetamine: Feds Make First Cold Medicine Bust Under Combat Meth Act (April 7, 2007)
"An Ontario, New York, man last Friday won the dubious distinction of being the first person arrested under the 2005 Combat Meth Epidemic Act. According to a DEA press release, William Fousse was arrested for purchasing cold tablets containing more than nine grams of pseudoephedrine within a one month period."

Harm Reduction: New Mexico Governor Signs Overdose Death Reduction Measure (April 7, 2007)
"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) Wednesday signed innovative legislation that would protect friends or family members who seek medical attention for drug overdose victims. The law is the first of its kind in the country."

Pot-Growing Takes Root in the Suburbs (April 1, 2007)
"In Coldwater Creek, a middle-class housing development outside Atlanta, the neighbors mind their own business and respect each other's privacy - ideal conditions, it turns out, for growing marijuana in the suburbs."

Bob Barr Flip-Flops on Pot (March 28, 2007)
"Bob Barr, who as a Georgia congressman authored a successful amendment that blocked D.C. from implementing a medical marijuana initiative, has switched sides and become a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project."

What the heck is Sibel Edmonds' Case about? And why should I care? (March 28, 2007)
"Essentially, there is only one investigation – a very big one, an all-inclusive one... But I can tell you there are a lot of people involved, a lot of ranking officials, and a lot of illegal activities that include multi-billion-dollar drug-smuggling operations, black-market nuclear sales to terrorists and unsavory regimes, you name it... You can start from the AIPAC angle. You can start from the Plame case. You can start from my case. They all end up going to the same place, and they revolve around the same nucleus of people."

Mexican Envoy Highly Critical of U.S. Role in Anti-Drug Effort (March 23, 2007)
"The United States has contributed 'zilch' to Mexico's efforts to combat the nations' joint problem with criminal narcotics gangs, Mexico's new ambassador to Washington said yesterday."

Colorado Has Song in Its Heart, and Not Drugs on Its Mind (March 14, 2007- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The Colorado General Assembly wants to be quite clear on this point: When the singer-songwriter John Denver praised the joys of Colorado and sang about 'friends around the campfire, and everybody’s high,' in 1972, he was not referring to illicit drugs. Definitely not. Don’t even think it. The high in question, lawmakers say, is really about nature and the great outdoors — the tingly feeling you get after a nice hike, perhaps."

U.S. faults friends, foes in drug war (March 5, 2007)
"The United States said top anti-terror allies Afghanistan, Pakistan and Colombia had fallen short in the war on drugs despite enhanced counter-narcotics efforts and it criticized perennial foes Iran, North Korea and Venezuela for not cooperating."

Cuba’s War on Drugs (March 5, 2007)
"A review of the main results of the Cuban efforts against illegal drug trafficking as well as prevention during 2006, shows a marked reduction in the presence of drugs on the island, with 1.7 tons of narcotics seized, the lowest figure of the past 11 years and almost four times less than the amount detected in 2003."

Drug War Corrupting Cops In Hawaii and Elsewhere (March 5, 2007)
"Claiming to be the 'world’s leading drug policy newsletter,' the Drug War Chronicle publishes a regular online feature called, 'This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories.' The typical Hawaii newspaper reader probably comes across these cops-gone-bad stories pretty rarely. But, when hundreds of reports compiled over the past year from around the nation are read at one sitting, they add up to a hidden cost of America’s ill-fated drug war -- widespread corruption inside local police departments, prisons and jails."

Drug war rips apart Mexico (March 5, 2007)
"More than 250 people were executed last year in Acapulco as the sweltering Pacific resort became the latest battleground between rival cartels battling for supremacy of the multibillion-dollar drug trade."

In Guatemala, officers' killings echo dirty war (March 5, 2007)
"The two sets of brazen killings set off a vicious diplomatic conflict between Guatemala and El Salvador — heightened by news reports suggesting that the congressmen were indeed drug dealers — and ignited a political scandal here. It shed light on how corrupt the National Police has become, and raised questions about links between drug dealers and high-level police officials, as well as whether the government can contain drug trafficking without international help."

Collision Course: Bolivia's "Coca, Si; Cocaine, No" Policy Runs Afoul of the International Drug Control Board and, Probably, the United States (March 1, 2007)
"A confrontation is brewing over Bolivian President Evo Morales' effort to rationalize coca production in his country and expand markets for coca-based products....Now, the Morales government is also pushing for expanded legal markets for coca products and, in a joint venture with the Venezuelan government, is preparing to begin coca product exports to that country."

Ga. Reconsiders No - Knock Warrant Rules (March 1, 2007)
"A group of lawmakers wants to make it harder for police to use ''no-knock'' warrants in the wake of a shootout that left an elderly woman dead after plainclothes officers stormed her home unannounced in a search for drugs."

Here we go again (Feb. 22, 2007)
"We're happy we could help with that, Mr. Vice President, but Colombian cocaine is still readily available in U.S. cities, so we have a difficult time thinking we got a good deal for our $4 billion. In fact, we don't believe Americans are getting their money's worth for any of the cash the government has thrown into the bottomless pit of the drug war. Court dockets are packed and prisons are overcrowded, yet illicit drugs are still readily available to anyone who wants them."

Latin America: Mexico Moves to Decriminalize Drug Possession -- So It Can Concentrate on Drug Traffickers (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Legislators from Mexican President Felipe's Calderon's National Action Party (PAN -- Partido de Accion Nacional) have introduced a bill in the Mexican Senate that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs for 'addicts.'"

DPS officials were told of lax lab security (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Texas Department of Public Safety officials were aware of security breaches in the handling of their drug evidence as recently as 2006 and as far back as at least 2003 — problems such as failure to log evidence out of storage, containers of marijuana left open and the lack of a monitoring system for a high-security drug vault — according to the agency's internal audits."

'Safest city' now has drug war (Feb. 22, 2007)
"From the shopping malls and the fashionable clothes of its residents, this could be any affluent U.S. suburb. Residents pride themselves on their prosperity. But in recent weeks, drug-related violence has shattered the tranquillity."

Mexican president gives soldiers pay hike as drug war intensifies (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Soldiers waging a nationwide offensive against drug traffickers will get a pay hike of nearly 50 percent this year in a bid to insulate them from corruption, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced Monday."

New Federal Study Shows Methamphetamine Use Decreased Between 2002 and 2005 (Jan. 31, 2007)
"A new analysis of data from The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows that past-year use of methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant, declined between 2002 and 2005 among persons age 12 or older....The study also shows that the number of persons who used methamphetamine for the first time in the 12 months before the survey remained stable between 2002 and 2004 but decreased between 2004 and 2005."

Tell Governor Spitzer to Support Rockefeller Drug Law Reform (Jan. 31, 2007)
"The Rockefeller Drug Laws require extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Most of the people incarcerated under these laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses, and many of them have no prior criminal records. Today 14,139 people are locked up for drug offenses in NY State prisons, comprising nearly 38% of the prison population. This costs New Yorkers over half a billion dollars a year. Send a message to Governor Spitzer now, urging him to support real reform."

Mexico eyes Colombian experience in drug battle (Jan. 27, 2007)
"Mexico's top prosecutor on Thursday looked to Colombia's experience in counter-narcotics and conflict for lessons to help his government battle drug cartels whose violence has engulfed parts of the country."

Rio gang kills seven as drug war spreads (Jan. 27, 2007)
"The mutilated bodies of seven youths, some with their heads and legs chopped off, have been found in an abandoned car in a notorious Rio de Janeiro slum. They appeared to be the latest victims of a long-running drug war that has made Rio, which depends heavily on tourism, one of the most violent cities in the world."

Drug Policy Reform Group to Partner with State of New Mexico in Federally-Funded Meth Prevention Education Program (Jan. 27, 2007)
"In a first for drug reform organizations, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) New Mexico office has been designated to create a statewide methamphetamine education and prevention program directed at high school students, thanks to a $500,000 grant obtained by US Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) as part of a Justice Department appropriations bill. The grant is the result of years of close collaboration between DPA and New Mexico state and local officials dating back to the administration of former Gov. Gary Johnson (R), a prominent voice for drug law reform."

Spot in brain may control smoking urge (Jan. 27, 2007)
"Damage to a silver dollar-sized spot deep in the brain seems to wipe out the urge to smoke, a surprising discovery that may shed important new light on addiction. The research was inspired by a stroke survivor who claimed he simply forgot his two-pack-a-day addiction - no cravings, no nicotine patches, not even a conscious desire to quit."

Case highlights medical-pot dilemma (Jan. 23, 2007)
"'If they didn't arrest me with 1,500, it's not likely they're going to come back and arrest me for 50,' said Sarich, whose advocacy group, CannaCare, says it has provided marijuana plants for 1,200 patients all over the state. Some of his new plants, delivered by patients in Longview, Federal Way and Vancouver, Wash., are descendants of the plants he lost."

Alleged cartel members extradited to Texas (Jan. 23, 2007)
"A suspected Mexican drug lord whose cartel allegedly smuggled more than 4 tons of cocaine a month over the U.S. border will stand trial in Texas. Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, the alleged kingpin of the Gulf Cartel, and three other alleged drug lords appeared in a Houston court Monday. Mexican authorities delivered Cardenas-Guillen and 14 other alleged Mexican drug dealers and criminals to Houston late Friday and early Saturday, the Drug Enforcement Administration said."

Burdened U.S. military cuts role in drug war (Jan. 22, 2007)
"Stretched thin from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has sharply reduced its role in the war on drugs, leaving significant gaps in the nation's narcotics interdiction efforts."

S.F. area is No. 1 for regular drug use, study says (Jan. 21, 2007)
"The San Francisco metropolitan area has a higher percentage of people who are regular drug users than any other major metropolitan area in the USA, a study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found."

Executive Order 13420 -- Dismantling the DEA (Jan. 21, 2007)
"This is the order I will sign after delivering my inaugural address," says Steve Kubby, who is again running for office this time seeking the nomination from the Libertarian Party as their Presidential candidate.

Cocaine found on 99.9% of UK banknotes (Jan. 21, 2007)
"Pretty well every banknote in the UK shows traces of cocaine, forensic scientists have claimed. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, 99.9 per cent of the two billion notes currently in circulation have come into contact with Bolivian marching powder."

A Legacy of Torture: From Cointelpro to the Patriot Act (Jan. 21, 2007)
"In today's world, the US government's use of torture and complicity in its clients' use of it is part of the headlines on a regular basis. Yet very few US citizens believe that methods like waterboarding, beating, and electrical shocks could be -- and have been -- used on US citizens." But the fact that torture is used profusely in US jails and prisons is unsurprising to those who've been inside the US "justice" system.

Reefer Madness (Jan. 21, 2007)
"I was never an activist until I got busted [noted Tommy Chong]. But it ’s not so much my efforts as the substance itself. Pot lives and dies on its own reputation....Years ago, people would do booze jokes. Then they start dying of cirrhosis of the liver and all these alcohol-related car accidents. Alcohol started out as a fun thing and ended up as this evil thing that kills people. Pot is the opposite...."

In the Costly War on Drugs, Who's To Say What Is Right? (Jan. 21, 2007)
"It seems like you lack a certain enthusiasm for the war on drugs, I said. I do lack enthusiasm for the war on drugs, he said. I asked about legalization. He shrugged. 'Monday, Wednesday and Friday I think they should be legalized. Tuesdays and Thursdays I think they should be illegal. I don't like drugs. I strongly disapprove of them. The costs are great. But it's expensive to incarcerate somebody. The costs are enormous either way. I don't know what's right.'"

Democracy and Plan Colombia (Jan. 21, 2007)
Just what effects are the massive spraying in anti-cocaine and poppy efforts that are one of the main tenents of Plan Colombia, not to mention all the arms and training given to the Colombian military and governments to combat Colombian peasents...errr, I mean, dastardly narco-terrorists? No major advancement of democracy it appears.

Drug mafia, CIA blamed for sacking of Afghan governor (Jan. 21, 2007)
"As The Washington Post has plainly summarized, 'corruption and alliances formed by Washington and the Afghan government with anti-Taliban tribal chieftains, some of whom are believed to be deeply involved in the trade, [have] undercut the [counter-narcotics] effort.'"

PAST NEWS ARCHIVE

Altered minds: Former drug warriors turn against prohibition (August 31, 2003)
"Tennant says the Sept. 11 attacks had a big impact on his thinking about drug policy. He recognized that the connection between drugs and terrorism, cited by the government to justify the war on drugs, was actually a consequence of prohibition, which makes the drug trade a highly lucrative business and delivers it into the hands of criminals. 'We’ve got to take the profit out of it,' he says."

FIRST-PERSON: Heralded 'war on drugs' leads public astray (August 31, 2003)
"In order to justify this current agenda of action, our leadership has perpetuated several misconceptions designed to hold at bay those who ordinarily might question a course that thus far has offered no real proof of permanent success. We will examine six of these misconceptions and the truth about them this month and six more in our September column."

War on drugs leaves poor Bolivian farmers hungry, desperate (August 31, 2003)
"One morning last April, Hilaria Perez Prado began her day as always -- hoping soldiers wouldn't burst from the jungle and tear her farm to pieces. They did come, though. They trampled her fields. And then one shot her in the chest as they left."

U.S. and the Iraqis Discuss Creating Big Militia Force (August 31, 2003-Free NYTimes registration required)
As a layperson, this still makes no military sense to the editor of DrugWar.com- can you say "blowback?"

Patriot Act Con: Feds Use Fear To Grab Power Of A Police State (August 31, 2003)
"Unfortunately, the arguments used by the Justice Department fail to convince. That is partly because many are deceptive, if not outright lies; and partly because the manipulation of fears and the lack of self-consistency are apparent in those arguments."

Global war on drugs is being won, says ASDA (August 31, 2003)
"A unified, global approach to countering drugs in sport is finally making inroads, according to the Australian Sports Doping Agency."

WTO clinches cheap drugs imports deal (August 31, 2003)
"The World Trade Organisation (WTO) yesterday clinched a deal to allow poor countries better access to cheaper medicines for fighting deadly scourges such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis."

Decision Could Handicap War On Drugs (August 31, 2003)
"'For every vessel we seize, there might be 20 vessels that get in,' said Lt. Luis Rodriguez, of the U.S. Coast Guard in Puerto Rico."

Siege At Rainbow Farm (August 30, 2003)
"In 2001 a Hippie Campground Famous for Peace, Love and Weed Erupted in Violence and Death. Was It Another Ruby Ridge or the Collapse of a Failed Utopia?"

Drug Legalization Debate Surges in Latin America (August 30, 2003)
"Among other arguments, the former Colombian prosecutor, now 74, stressed that 'prohibition is a waste of energy,' and that it is destroying the public safety forces all over the world due to the incredible power of the corruption of the narco-traffickers. In his opinion, the more the State intervenes in the combat against production, distribution, and use of drugs, the more conditions are created to feed the paramilitary forces financed by the narco-trafficking mafias. The prohibition produces a war that could be avoided altogether, he believes."

Judges go soft on sentences more often (August 29, 2003)
"From Maine to California, federal judges are using their gavels to express disapproval of lengthy mandatory sentences and strict sentencing guidelines by routinely giving convicted offenders less time than the law requires, federal sentencing records show."
This sort of behavior, judges actually judging, has really pissed off John Ashcroft and friends.

Missing activist wins back disputed ounce of pot (August 29, 2003)
"Missing medical marijuana activist Christopher Robert Giauque appears to have won a four-year battle to reclaim an ounce of pot seized during a 1999 traffic stop."

Six-member civilian review board to work for reconciliation in Tulia (August 29, 2003)
"The future of racial harmony in Tulia will rest partly in the hands of a six-member civilian review board, officials announced Thursday."

U.S.-Colombia Drug War Funds Will Not Be Used to Fight Global AIDS (August 29, 2003)
"Backing President Bush, the House of Representatives on Thursday narrowly defeated Democrats' efforts to boost funds to fight the AIDS pandemic by shifting money from Bush's new foreign assistance program and anti-drug efforts in Colombia."

Schwarzenegger's Conflicting Drug Replies (August 29, 2003- Thanks to DrugWar list subscriber Jules Siegel for bringing this to DrugWar.com's attention)
Schwarzenegger can't seem to get his answers straight about drug use. THis is the same guy who a couple of days ago said that he thinks medical marijuana should be legal, but marijuana itself should be illegal and the same for other drugs, even though he himself is on film in Pumping Iron obiously greatly enjoying a joint. It was ok for him, but not for others. Scary.

Overseer Faults LAPD on Citizen Complaints (August 29, 2003)
"In one case, a sergeant who was supposed to be taking a complaint from an undercover officer posing as a juvenile took an inordinate amount of time, stretching the process beyond 10 p.m., the report said. After documenting the complaint, he detained the 'juvenile' for violating curfew. In other cases, officers didn't properly document complaints about excessive force, use of racial slurs and other offenses."

Pact Designed to Help Poor Nations Obtain Drugs Is Delayed (August 29, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The World Trade Organization came close tonight to approving an agreement to help poor nations buy lifesaving generic medicines through new exemptions from trade rules, only to postpone the final decision." Still, it looks as though a deal is near completion. The poor might still get their cheaper medicines, despite opposition from certain pharmaceutical companies and Bush administration greedheads.

Prosecutors Fight DNA Use for Exoneration (August 29, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"After seeing more than 130 prisoners freed by DNA testing in the last 15 years, prosecutors in Florida and across the country have mounted a vigorous challenge to similar new cases." It must be hard on the prosecutors to see innocent people set free despite the rabid prosecutorial efforts to lock 'em all up and throw away the keys, permenantly.

States to Fight Relaxation of Power-Plant Pollution Standards (August 29, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
Stiff opposition to yet more Bush administration insanity is brewing.

Tony Blair's Iraq Dossier (August 29, 2003)
It's difficult for the editor of DrugWar.com to trust much of anything coming out of any government lately, due to the fact that most governments in modern times have had no trouble at all in lying about drugs nor felt any hesitation in waging war on their own citizens based upon those blatant lies. As this editorial notes, the Blair administration is not having an easy time convincing its citizens that it didn't lie about so-called threats posed by Iraq.

I Have a Dream (August 28, 2003)
"On August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the African-American civil-rights movement reached its high-water mark when Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the over 200,000 people attending his March on Washington." Listen to the speech MLK gave here.

Agony & Ecstasy In 'High on Life: Transcending Addiction,' the Art That Healed the Artist (August 28, 2003- Free Washington Post registration required)
"Most of the artists are self-taught; they are addicts, unapologetic users or victims. It is an exhibition about altered states, and the things we use to take us there -- coffee, cigarettes, cocaine, LSD. It is hellish and it is heavenish. It is about journeys and trips. And it is filled with wonder."

Argentina: Decriminalizing Medical Marijuana (August 28, 2003)
“'The Harm Reduction and HIV/AIDS Prevention Program, carried out among drug users in the city of Rosaio, confirmed both the efficiency and the direct benefit that comes from utilizing drug users community health workers,' begins Gustavo Hurtado, secretary of the Harm Reduction Association of Argentina (ARDA, in its Spanish initials)."

Singer Bobby Brown sentenced for violating probation (August 28, 2003)
"Singer Bobby Brown apologized to a DeKalb County judge Wednesday before he was sentenced to jail and 60 days under house arrest for violating probation on a drunken driving conviction."

The Institutionalization of "Nacro-terror" (August 27, 2003)
"Are you scared yet? U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft wants you to stop worrying about your privacy and civil liberties. Since fear of terrorism doesn't seem to be a strong enough incentive, he may be ready to play the drug card."

Huge Pay Off For A Quick Investigation (August 27, 2003)
"After a three-week investigation, officials found out money was being trucked from the east coast to Tucson and confiscated the cash Saturday, after it arrived in Tucson. This money is profit from illegal drugs and was on its way back to Mexico."

Schumer stumps for cash for cops (August 27, 2003)
"Rochester police could receive between $1 million and $3 million annually if a federal agency designates Rochester as a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area."

Central Asia as a transit region for drugs (August 27, 2003)
"Central Asia has since ancient times been a region blessed with open borders and trade with people from all corners of the world. This blessing has turned into a double-edged sword in the 21st century. The lack of effective border controls and weak infrastructure has created borders that are very easy to penetrate for goods that need to avoid official routes, such as drugs, weapons and human trafficking."

Area reverses positive trend on drug abuse (August 27, 2003)
"Reversing what had been an encouraging two-year trend, reports of drug abuse requiring emergency room care in the Baltimore area rose by 12.5 percent between 2001 and last year while they remained constant nationally."

Search on for cocaine (August 27, 2003)
"Southern Division police swooped down yesterday on the sleepy fishing village of Grand Chemin, Moruga, following reports that a large quantity of cocaine, strongly believed to have originated from mainland Venezuela, washed ashore on the Moruga coastline on Monday afternoon."

DEA to probe fake-drug busts (August 27, 2003)
"Dallas police Tuesday asked the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Dallas County district attorney's office to join the department's investigation into a series of undercover drug busts that were later found to involve fake drugs."

Ending the war on drugs (August 27, 2003)
"From the Andean countries — Bolivia, Peru and above all Colombia — to the Golden Crescent countries — Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran — to the Golden Triangle countries — Myannmar, Thailand and Laos — the US and the Western European war on drugs has created conditions for the actual or incipient failure of these states."

Hunt on for 'corrupt, druggie' police (August 27, 2003)
"The NSW Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has launched an investigation into drug use by police, after repeated evidence of abuse emerging during anti-corruption inquiries."

Bioweapons expert sues Ashcroft over probe (August 27, 2003)
"The germ warfare expert who has been investigated in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks sued Attorney General John Ashcroft and other government officials Tuesday, accusing them of violating his constitutional rights for political gain."

Florida dealers accused of selling illegal medication (August 27, 2003)
"A ring of South Florida pharmaceutical dealers are accused of selling at least $8.5 million in counterfeit or illegally obtained medicines that reached patients across the country."

EPA Watchdog Rips White House on NYC Air (August 27, 2003)
"At the White House's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency gave New Yorkers misleading assurances that there was no health risk from the debris-laden air after the World Trade Center collapse, according to an internal inquiry. President Bush's senior environmental adviser on Friday defended the White House involvement, saying it was justified by national security." Who is it these politicians working for and representing again?

Death by Slow Burn- How America Nukes Its Own Troops (August 27, 2003)
"Under the protection of American soldiers, Karzai's regime is setting a new record for opium production. Both UN and U.S. reports confirm that the huge Afghani opium harvest of 2002 makes Afghanistan the world's leading opium producer.(34) Thanks to nuclear weapons, Afghanistan is now safe for the Bush-Cheney narcotics industry."

R-2 Board approves drug testing (August 27, 2003)
"After discussing and asking questions for almost an hour, the Nixa R-2 Board of Education joined other Missouri school districts adopting drug testing policies."

Gulf War Veterans Sue Corporations (August 27, 2003)
"Blaming corporations for fueling former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program, veterans of the first Gulf War filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking compensation for illnesses affecting more than 100,000 soldiers."

Major Crackdown on Drug Dealers/Florida Prison Gulag Expands (August 26, 2003)
These and other "special" headlines and the accompanying articles can be read at Canada NORML's website.

Governor pardons 35 in Tulia drug case (August 26, 2003)
"Thirty-five people convicted in the now-discredited 1999 Tulia drug sting were pardoned by Gov. Rick Perry on Friday, even as lawyers for those wrongfully charged in the cases launched a major legal assault against the police departments and government officials involved in their arrests."

A Savage Lie (August 26, 2003)
"The bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad was a message that is falling on deaf ears. The attack was not entirely about the UN but more to warn the world that if you ally with Bush Incorporated, they cannot keep you safe. It is dangerous company to keep."

War Foes Were Right (August 26, 2003)
"It all makes for mesmerizing news, and I've spent lots of time tuned to the daily media looking for evidence to support my gut feeling that this war, like most wars, was based on lies and misconceptions from the start. You don't have to look very hard these days. It's like shooting fish in a barrel."

Ashcroft Criticized for Talks on Terror (August 26, 2003)
"Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told Mr. Ashcroft in a letter that he should either "desist from further speaking engagements" or explain why they do not violate restrictions on political activities by government officials."

Drug abuse center at risk (August 20, 2003)
"The futures of 18 employees and untold numbers of addicted women are in limbo."

Presidential Determination Regarding U.S. Assistance To the Government of Colombia Airbridge Denial Program (August 20, 2003)
"The President has authorized the Department of State to resume assistance to Colombia in carrying out an 'Airbridge Denial Program' against civil aircraft suspected of trafficking in illicit drugs. A previous program proved to be an effective tool in helping reduce the flow of illegal drugs through Colombia to the United States." What does this mean, these shootdowns were "effective in reducing the flow of illegal drugs?" What reduction does the White House spokesperson here mean?

It's legal because it's phony (August 20, 2003)
"The courts have previously ruled that it's unconstitutional to have real drug checkpoints on the grounds that they would be a form of unreasonable search and seizure, so this ruse seems on the thin edge of the ice. On the other hand, the courts have upheld lying to crooks in certain circumstances."

Deadly 'Drug Corner' Moves to Your Computer (August 20, 2003)
"In fact, if you search for 'no prescription codeine' through one of the standard computer-search systems, the odds are almost fifty-fifty that the first site you hit will provide an instant opportunity to buy drugs illegally."

Court: Fake checkpoints OK in search for motorists' illegal drugs (August 20, 2003)
"Colorado police can set up fake checkpoints in hopes of sniffing out illegal drugs, an appeals court ruled in a case where camouflage-clad officers spied on fans during a bluegrass festival in 2000."

Teen drug use grows with stress, boredom, money (August 20, 2003)
"A survey of American children and parents released yesterday found that a mix of three ingredients in abundance for many kids can lead to substance abuse: boredom, stress and extra money."

Ashcroft Blasts Efforts to Weaken Terrorism Law (August 20, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
Ashcroft and his ilk would be funny if they weren't so damned scary and downright murderous.

U.S. Backs Colombia on Attacking Drug Planes (August 20, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on a one-day visit to Colombia, said today that the United States would support Colombia in resuming a policy that allows Colombian fighter pilots to shoot down planes suspected of ferrying drugs or force them to land." Working towards peace and goodwill around the world, the US...oh, hold on, that was the US I was sold an image of during my formative years, not the reality of the situation whatsoever. The US drug warriors and their greedheaded lackies in Colombia, and apparently soon Peru, see nothing wrong with shooting down and quite probably murdering people who haven't been anywhere near a courtroom to be convicted of anything.

Regional effort needed to tackle violence (August 20, 2003)
This dreck of an article blames illegal drugs for much violence, completely ignoring the lessons one would have thought we in the US had learned way back during alcohol prohibition.

He wasn't hallucinating; sentence was 'enhanced' (August 19, 2003)
"Under the pretense of getting tough on crime (as all politicians promise in their campaign-begging) and to aid the Drug War, parole was eliminated and mandatory minimum sentences were instituted."

US notches world's highest incarceration rate (August 19, 2003)
But even with all these men and women locked up in US prisons and jails, the illegal drug trade continues briskly, making some one hell of a lot of money.

Pro-pot initiative gets political push at high-flying Hempfest (August 19, 2003)
"Hempfest, the nation's largest annual festival promoting liberalization of marijuana laws, drew tens of thousands to the waterfront yesterday and Saturday -- reaffirming Seattle's reputation as a pot-friendly place."

Colombia's War Brings Fear to Panama's Darien Gap (August 19, 2003)
"Today, fears that a highway would facilitate drug trafficking by the FARC mean the Darien Gap is unlikely to close until a lasting peace is found in Colombia."

Hyde fights Colombian opium (August 19, 2003)
"With Congress in recess, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee issued a two-paragraph statement containing a startling allegation. Rep. Henry Hyde contended opium production in Colombia has revived. It supplies, he continued, 'more than 60 percent of U.S. heroin.'''

Thirty percent of black men in US will go to jail (August 19, 2003)
"Black men born in the United States in 2001 will have a one in three chance of going to prison during their lifetime if current trends continue, according to a report by the US justice department."

Rumsfeld visit to Bogotá sign of US support (August 19, 2003)
"The visit of Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defence, to Bogotá, which begins on Tuesday, could herald an impending increase in Washington's financial support for Colombia's war on domestic insurgents and drug-traffickers, according to analysts."

What I Want (August 19, 2003)
"We have traded our reputation with other nations, built over more than two centuries, for the enrichment of arms dealers and gasoline merchants. What do I want? I want freedom to be more than a reason for killing; I want freedom to be a reason for being."

Unconstitutional Procedure May Not Halt Execution (August 19, 2003)
"Mark Robertson, who is to be executed in Texas tomorrow, is a member of a small frate rnity of death row prisoners there. They were sentenced from 1989 to 1991 by juries under a procedure that the United States Supreme Court has held to be unconstitutional."

Jordan MPs Seek Extradition of Iraqi Politician (August 19, 2003)
"The story below tells the sordid tale of Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi. This is the man hand-picked by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to lead post-war Iraq."

Patriotic Gore (August 18, 2003)
"Here, the mainstream media almost always allow the Bush Administration to lie without consequence. It's not that lies go unnoticed; it's just that it's considered bad manners to worry about so silly an issue--and never more so than when those lies are deployed to justify a needless war." This is true, but as any drug law reformer is well aware, the mainstream US media has been allowing all US presidential administrations to lie without consequence to justify that other needless yet very expensive war- the War on Some Drugs and Users.

Taking Responsibility (August 18, 2003)
"The purpose behind this game of musical chairs, of course, is to muddy the waters so that no one has to take responsibility for the president's false remarks. Harry Truman had a plaque on his desk that read, 'The buck stops here.' If Bush had a plaque on his desk, it would say, 'The buck stops with Blair, or Tenet, or Condoleeza Rice – but I forgive them all.'"

Man facing drug charges was a top cop (August 18, 2003)
"The Atlanta police officer accused of secretly working with a drug gang was one of the department’s most honored officers, named 'Officer of the Year' just two weeks ago."

Deputy allegedly took pay for drug searches (August 18, 2003)
Yet another example of just how stupid and evil the entire War on Some Drugs and Users really is, in that greed seems to turn more people, and corrupt law enforcers, to crime than any drugs have ever.

Police, camera, action (August 18, 2003)
"As her guests, a collection of drug addicts and wife-beaters, mistresses and sobbing wives, squirm in their seats, she shouts and reprimands, telling one adulterous, drug-addicted husband to 'go under a bridge and kill yourself'."

Corruption-ridden Paraguay swears in new president (August 18, 2003)
'''Nothing will be as it was before. We are going to battle the mafias ... the contraband ... the drug smugglers,' the reform-minded Duarte, 46, told a packed Congress filled with Latin American leaders including Cuban President Fidel Castro."

Report: Cops sold informants to drug lords (August 18, 2003)
"Two Colombian police officers sold the identity of informants working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to drug traffickers, who hunted them down and killed them, according to a police intelligence report cited in a newspaper on Saturday."

One in five drugs in India is fake (August 18, 2003)
"Massive racket in counterfeit medicine leads to call for death penalty for 'merchants of death'"

Report: 5.6M Have 'Prison Experience' (August 18, 2003)
"About one in every 37 U.S. adults was either imprisoned at the end of 2001 or had been incarcerated at one time, the government reported Sunday."

Halliburton Has a Friend in Dick Cheney (August 18, 2003)
"No Bid Contracts in Iraq and Getting Off the Hook on Asbestos."

Idi Amin, Brutal Ruler of Uganda in the 70's, Dies (August 17, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"Idi Amin, whose eight-year reign of terror in Uganda encompassed widespread killing, torture and dispossession of multitudes and left the country pauperized, died yesterday in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, where he had lived for years in exile. He was believed to have been about 78 years old, though some reports said he was as old as 80."

Cops Against the Drug War (August 16, 2003)
"Some law-enforcement veterans like Jack Cole believe we're fighting for a lost cause."

Paducah Police Wage War on Drugs (August 16, 2003)
"Veteran Detective Eric Jackson knows exactly what to look for when dealing with narcotics. 'When you come to a scene, nothing is innocent,' says Jackson. 'You have to look at everything. The things you might overlook are the things they're going to hide their drugs in -- a napkin, a cup.'"

'Didn't everyone do dope at college?' (August 16, 2003)
"The new Director of Public Prosecutions isn't the first member of the Establishment to admit to 'youthful indiscretions'."

A war worth fighting (August 16, 2003)
CNN's Lou Dobb's writes about the need for the War on Some Drugs and Users, writing that the war is only "half over" and that we definitely should not give up the war. He even seems serious.

Paraguay gets new president as South American leaders pledge united front against drugs and terrorism (August 16, 2003)
"Presidents from Colombia and other countries in the region gave Duarte his first official business Friday as they signed the "Declaration of Asuncion" pledging a political alliance in the war on drugs."

Drug war distortions (August 16, 2003)
"Rumsfeld's specialty is military conflicts, but his candid assessment should be a lesson to those leading the war on drugs. Will Glaspy, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, insists the overall policy is balanced, 'combining strong enforcement with education and treatment. We know we can't arrest our way out of it.'"

U.S. Clamps Secrecy on Warnings Before 9/11 (August 16, 2003)
Or as TruthOut.org put it in their daily email update, "9/11 Commission 'White House Cover-Up Exists'"

The Bush Administration Adopts a Worse-than-Nixonian Tactic: The Deadly Serious Crime Of Naming CIA Operatives (August 16, 2003)
The Bush administration is using friendly reporters to go after its enemies, and John Dean feels that what the Bush administration has done by leaking and blowing the cover of an undercover CIA agent is a deadly serious offense worse than anything committed by the Nixon crew.

US Says It Doesn't Know How Many Detainees Are at Guantanamo (August 16, 2003)
This doesn't bode well for the prisoners and their families still awaiting word from their locked-up loved ones.

The Cheryl Miller Memorial Project (August 14, 2003)
"On Monday and Tuesday, September 22 and 23, 2003, Cheryl Miller's family and friends will join with medical marijuana supporters to memorialize her life and contributions to the medical marijuana movement. Though she was paralyzed by decades of multiple sclerosis, Cheryl and her husband and caregiver Jim waged a long and courageous battle so patients like Cheryl would not have to suffer when a safe medicine, marijuana, could be easily available were it not for politics keeping it illegal and out of the hands of those who could benefit. Cheryl's long struggle came to an end on June 7, 2003."

Justice Kennedy Speaks Out Against Sentencing Guidelines (August 14, 2003)
"The nation's inmate population reached 2.1 million, a record, last year. One major factor behind the increase has been the imposition of the mandatory minimum sentences contained in many federal laws, especially drug laws. A second reason for the rise is the effect of federal sentencing guidelines, which were adopted in the mid-1980's to make criminal sentences in federal cases more uniform. These two measures have both pressured judges to give longer sentences than they otherwise would."

Jolted Over Electronic Voting (August 14, 2003)
Will your vote matter in upcoming elections? How will you know?

Is There Anything Left That Matters? (August 14, 2003)
"If Bill Clinton's definition of 'is' matters, surely this matters. If a president's sex life matters, surely a president's use of global force against some of the weakest people in the world matters. If a president's word in a court of law about a private indiscretion matters, surely a president's word to the community of nations and the security of millions of people matters."

Thanks for the M.R.E.'s (August 14, 2003)
"Private contactors, military mercenary companies, have been leaving US servicefolk in Iraq in the lurch, with not enough water or other supplies."

Citizens' Indictment Of Bush, Cheney, Et Al.(August 14, 2003)
"Do you wish you could really do something to halt the Bush/Cheney takeover? You can! Together we can stop thm. Please read on..."

Iraq War Protesters Face Fines (August 14, 2003)
First they faced US violence, now they face US fines.

Iran-Contra, Amplified (August 12, 2003)
The same song and dance is being played out all over again, with a "secret" government and "secret" agencies and "secret" wars and plots and crimes, involving many of the exact same Iran-Contra figures who played roles the last time around popping up in starring and cameo roles this time too. The GW Bush administration is riddled with crooks, maniacs and murderous warmongering profiteers.

Under Ashcroft, Justice Is Blind and Handcuffed (August 12, 2003)
"Ashcroft is seeking to prevent judges from tailoring sentences to fit individual crimes. If successful, sentences in the United States would be meted out with all the speed and care involved in calculating a mortgage rate on the Internet. Judges are resisting this robotic approach to sentencing and are fighting to preserve a tradition of judicial discretion that runs to the early days of our country. In a system without such discretion, pleas for mercy or extenuating circumstances would be considered immaterial to justice."

Bush's 9-11 Secrets The Government Received Warnings of Bin Laden's Plans to Attack New York and D.C. (August 12, 2003)
"'In sum, the 9-11 Report of the Congressional Inquiry indicates that the intelligence community was very aware that Bin Laden might fly an airplane into an American skyscraper,' says Dean. 'Given the fact that there had already been an attempt to bring down the twin towers of the World Trade Center with a bomb, how could Rice say what she did?' We don't know because Bush has invoked executive privilege to withhold from Congress this key briefing on August 6, 2001."

Marijuana as a prescription drug is ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question (August 10, 2003)
"That fact that President Bush’s administration has focused on raiding clinics and arresting terminally ill patients in an ill-conceived and patently cruel attempt to end the use of medically prescribed marijuana has enraged so many people that they want to make it an issue in the upcoming presidential election."

Why legalizing drugs is dopey idea (August 10, 2003)
CNN's Lou Dobbs supports drug prohibition, despite all the evidence illustrating quite clearly how disastrous a policy it is.

Meetings With Iran-Contra Arms Dealer Confirmed (August 10, 2003)
This is serious stuff here, treasonous action by US government officials. "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday that Pentagon officials met secretly with a discredited expatriate Iranian arms merchant who figured prominently in the Iran-contra scandal of the mid-1980s, characterizing the contact as an unexceptional effort to gain possibly useful information."

Iraqi Trailers Said to Make Hydrogen, Not Biological Arms (August 10, 2003)
These are the trailors Bush said proved the US had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "Engineering experts from the Defense Intelligence Agency have come to believe that the most likely use for two mysterious trailers found in Iraq was to produce hydrogen for weather balloons rather than to make biological weapons, government officials say."

Weedstock Ruling Clock Ticks (August 10, 2003)
"Sauk County officials are running out of time to challenge an appeals court ruling that invalidates the county's large assemblies ordinance. The 4th District Court of Appeals invalidated the ordinance July 24 while ruling on a case involving a pro-marijuana rally police shut down in May 2000."

Transition of Power: President-Elect Bush Meets With Congressional Leaders on Capitol Hill (August 10, 2003)
This is a reminder of the mind-set of our current President:
"GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I told all four that there were going to be some times where we don't agree with each other. But that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

Secret Talks With Iranian (August 10, 2003)
Not only has the Bush administration hired many criminals and traitors involved in the Iran-Contra scandal, they've now been discovered to have had "unauthorized" meetings with at least one arms dealer also involved in the original Iran-Contra scandal.

Substance Abuse (August 10, 2003)
"The Administration undermined its ability to obtain scientific advice on substance abuse by using an apparent political litmus test for appointees to an important drug abuse research committee."

U.S. Attorney Wants Legislature's Help In Drug War (August 10, 2003)
"U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said Monday Hawaii should amend its Constitution to allow airport 'walk-and-talk' drug busts to curb the flow of crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," into the islands."

Advocate touts aggressive treatments for ‘ice’ (August 10, 2003)
"The executive director of a substance abuse rehabilitation center on Maui has criticized a state Department of Education practice allowing school administrators to dismiss students caught possessing illegal drugs."

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll? Blame Canada (August 10, 2003)
"In short order, Canada touched all three bases on the fabled road to ruin: sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll."

The Pleasure System, Drugs and Society (August 10, 2003)
"Therefore, the secrets of our understanding about the control of brain functions in drug addiction rests on our ability to grasp the chemical processes of information transmission in the central nervous system."

State laws hindering drug war, panel told (August 10, 2003)
"Hawai'i's wiretapping laws and the state constitution must be changed to help officials fight the state's war on crystal methamphetamine, state and federal law enforcement officials told legislators yesterday."

The International Drug War's Illusory Victories (August 10, 2003)
"Perhaps the most telling reason to view Washington's latest claims of success with skepticism is the street price of cocaine in the United States. If the supply of the drug was truly being disrupted, there should be a major price spike. But nothing of the kind is happening."

US admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq (August 10, 2003)
Why is it that the US government and its military lies as a matter of course when first asked a question about a large assortment of issues, as it did about using napalm in Iraq, then comes clean a few days, weeks, or months, sometimes even years or decades down the road?

Father of dead soldier claims Army coverup (August 9, 2003)
"The father of a soldier who died of pneumonia this spring said Thursday the Army has excluded her death from its investigation of deadly pneumonia because it wants to cover up vaccine side effects."

Official: Payout won't halt pepper spray (August 9, 2003)
"A $1.6-million federal court settlement in the case of a Pontiac man who died after police from Waterford and Oakland County overdosed him with pepper spray won't stop county deputies from using the cayenne-based gas, a county attorney said Thursday."

US occupation forces attack Iraqi journalists (August 9, 2003)
"US occupation authorities shut down an Iraqi newspaper last month and have stepped up the detention of journalists for reporting on the ongoing resistance. These actions, along with many other repressive measures, indicate the true character of the 'democracy' and 'freedom' the American occupiers are bringing to the Iraqi people."

Noelle Bush out of rehab (August 9, 2003)
"Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter completed a drug-rehabilitation program Friday, when a judge dismissed drug charges against her and allowed her to go home with her parents."

Use of bogus drug checkpoints raises concern (August 9, 2003)
"The state's top civil liberties group is concerned about police using fake checkpoints to flush out people carrying drugs. A sham checkpoint went up this week on southbound I-65 near the Marion County line, netting at least one driver police said had marijuana."

Immunity for Iraqi Oil Dealings Raises Alarm (August 8, 2003)
Immunity for oil companies and their executive for any crimes they commit in Iraq, but mandatory minimums of US druggies here at home. Something seems a bit screwy here.

High Ranking Pentagon Official Turns Whistleblower (August 8, 2003)
"Kwiatkowski went on to charge that the operations she witnessed during her tenure in Feith's office, and particularly those of an ad hoc group known as the Office of Special Plans (OSP), constituted 'a subversion of constitutional limits on executive power and a co-optation through deceit of a large segment of the Congress'...Some are even comparing it to the off-the-books operation run from the National Security Council (NSC) during Reagan administration that later resulted in the "Iran-Contra" scandal."

Judge Criticizes Police Methods of Questioning War Protesters (August 8, 2003- free NYTimes registration required)
"A federal judge in Manhattan criticized police officials yesterday for the way demonstrators against the war in Iraq were interrogated earlier this year, and he made clear that civil liberties lawyers could seek to hold the city in contempt of court in the future if the police violate people's rights." But this very same judge recently loosened the rules government how police can spy on protestors, so his stance here seems a bit out of charactor.

Defense Department funding brain-machine work (August 8, 2003)
"What most people don't know is that the Department of Defense is already funding a research program with far creepier implications. The $24 million enterprise called Brain Machine Interfaces is developing technology that promises to directly read thoughts from a living brain --and even instill thoughts as well."

Britain losing new Afghan opium war (August 8, 2003)
"British-led plans to destroy Afghan opium poppy farming, responsible for 90% of the UK's heroin supply, have made little progress so far, UN figures will show next month."

"Democracy Is Under Attack - Let's Take it Back" (August 8, 2003)
"As the credibility of the US government unravels across the board, former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, now completely vindicated in her open questions about the government's account of 9/11, is making her presence felt throughout America."

Amnesty International Hearings on Racial Profiling (August 8, 2003)
"Throughout September 2003, Amnesty International USA will hold hearings on the issue of racial profiling throughout the US. Chaired by the Hon. Timothy K. Lewis- former judge on the US Court of Appeals for Third Circuit- these hearings will be focused on examining the practice of racial profiling as it effects a range of ethnic minorities in the US and as it is practiced by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Special attention will be paid to practices employed in the 'War on Drugs' and 'War on Terror'."

Former Vice President Al Gore Remarks to MoveOn.org at New York University, August 7, 2003 (August 8, 2003)
This speech by Al Gore has to be one of the better anti-Bush speeches yet uttered by anyone, particularly by someone of Gore's stature. Some might say it's just sour grapes on Gore's part, but not the editor of DrugWar.com, who despite not voting for Gore finds his points to be a much needed breath of fresh air.

Ashcroft Orders Tally Of Lighter Sentences (August 8, 2003)
"Critics Say He Wants 'Blacklist' of Judges." As a critic of Ashcroft, the editor of DrugWar.com is aghast that anyone, particularly the fascistic man in charge of the overcrowded and utterly wasteful US Justice system, wants to remove discretion from judges and insure that the US system remains overloaded, sucking away US taxdollars, not to mention lives, at breakneck pace. That a huge proportion of current federal defendents are stuck in the system over drug charges makes it even worse.

Wanna Smoke Free Canadian Pot? (August 7, 2003)
"We need bodies. Anyone who is interested in smoking supplied LEGAL cannabis and willing to talk to the public about the LEGAL status of cannabis in Ontario, come on down to Queen Street West on Saturday, August, 9th." Cannabis Canada is also holding another event on August 30 with lots of speakers and bands.

Sex Crimes Cover-Up By Vatican? (August 7, 2003)
While the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church condemns drunken excess and illegal drugs, the Vatican has for 40 years had a written policy threatening to excommunicate anyone who publicizes sexual abuse of children by its priests.

They've Got a Little List--And It Keeps Growing Longer (August 7, 2003)
"Kept secret until its disclosure last week by the TSA after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by San Francisco anti-war activists, it is supposedly entirely separate from the relatively well-publicized "no-fly" list, which covers about 1,000 people believed to have criminal or terrorist ties that could endanger the safety of airline passengers."

Can a popular antidepressant cause teenage suicide? (August 7, 2003)
"Van Syckel may not remember threatening her mother with an axe or screaming racial slurs, but the cuts on her body will not disappear."

Pfizer Moves to Stem Canadian Drug Imports (August 7, 2003- free NYTimes registration required)
Heaven forbid that US citizen actually obtain medications they can afford.

Bogota Set to Resume Anti-Drug Flights (August 6, 2003)
"The flights, part of the U.S. effort to stem the flow of illegal drugs from South America, were suspended in 2001 after the Peruvian military mistakenly shot down a small aircraft over Peru. Veronica Bowers, an American missionary, and her daughter, Charity, were killed in the incident. At the time, the Peruvian military was operating under a similar program with U.S. assistance."

Teacher Fired For Promotion Of Hemp Gets $70,000 (August 6, 2003)
"Cockrel came under fire in 1996 when she invited actor Woody Harrelson, an industrial hemp advocate, to talk to her fifth grade students at the Simpsonville Elementary School about his cause."

28 Pages (August 6, 2003)
"There's a lot more in the 28 pages than money. Everyone's chasing the charities," says this official. "They should be chasing direct links to high levels of the Saudi government. We're not talking about rogue elements. We're talking about a coordinated network that reaches right from the hijackers to multiple places in the Saudi government."

US Officials Confirm Dropping Firebombs on Iraqi Troops (August 6, 2003)
"During the war, Pentagon spokesmen disputed reports that napalm was being used, saying the Pentagon's stockpile had been destroyed two years ago. Apparently the spokesmen were drawing a distinction between the terms 'firebomb' and 'napalm.' If reporters had asked about firebombs, officials said yesterday they would have confirmed their use." Just like in Waco Texas, where US federal officials denied using pyrotechnic devices against the Davidians, knowing full well that fire-starting teargas projectiles had been used, US officials are playing semantical games about how they've gone about killing other human beings.

U.S. Wants Saddam, But Dead - Not Alive (August 6, 2003)
"The Bush administration will be delighted not to put Saddam on public trial. Dead dictators tell no tales...If put on public trial, Saddam would have a field day revealing the embarrassing alliance between his brutal regime and Washington...."

A Writer Who's Seen Jail From Both Sides of the Bars (August 5, 2003)
Drugs lead to the high life of a successful writing career.

Rigorous testing for new officers begins this week (August 5, 2003)
Cop wannabees in Arizona "... must not have used marijuana in the last three years or used it before other than for experimentation," among other no-nos.

Police to Step Up Drug Enforcement in Winchester (August 5, 2003)
"City to Team with Virginia State Police as Part of Continuing Effort to Crack Down on Illegal Drug Trade."

Daly's wife faces charges (August 5, 2003)
"The wife of pro golfer John Daly surrendered to federal authorities in Oxford, Miss., Monday on charges of laundering money for an illegal drug and gambling operation."

Day 2: A New Set Of Bars Laws block ex-cons from jobs, aid due to old crimes (August 5, 2003)
"Earl Nixon was convicted of marijuana possession in Pennsylvania in 1971. Almost thirty years later, after leaving a job running an assisted-living facility near Pittsburgh, that youthful indiscretion came back to haunt him."

'Personal' Responsibility (August 5, 2003)
"When Mr. Bush says he is personally responsible, does he really mean that ultimately you and I will be?" The stink of lies and murder for profits wafting from the White House grows worse by the minute. Of course, who is going to be held responsible for that other war and its victims, the never ending War on Some Drugs and Users?

More Calls to Vet Voting Machines (August 5, 2003)
"A recent report that showed touch-screen voting machines could be vulnerable to hackers spurred the National Association of Secretaries of State, a majority of whose members are in charge of their states' elections, to consider whether the standards for the machines should be beefed up to prevent tampering."

What Was Behind the Pentagon's Betting Palor? (August 5, 2003)
"First, never mind that this is the same rear admiral John Poindexter who was indicted during the Reagan years for his role in the scheme by which arms were sold to Iran and the proceeds funneled to the right-wing rebels in Nicaragua. Never mind that Poindexter lied to Congress, and escaped a prison sentence on a technicality. Never mind, even, that the Bush administration put this same John Poindexter in charge of DARPA, where he concocted a plan for wholesale surveillance of U.S. citizens."

Ivins: 9-11 Report Offers Findings That Were Obvious From the Get-Go (August 5, 2003)
This headline reminds the more lucid of just about every official US government report ever issued about marijuana.

Afghans on Edge of Chaos (August 5, 2003)
"As opium production and banditry soar, the country is at risk of anarchy, some warn, and could allow a Taliban resurgence."

Calling for Candor (August 5, 2003)
It's un-American to want to spend our taxes on health care and education for all our fellow US citizens, but it's hunky-dory to spend un-countable billions of tax dollars waging war, killing foreigners and US troops while spreading depleted uranium around Iraq. Hmmm.

Something Else is Still Missing in Iraq (August 5, 2003)
"When Dick Cheney came out of hiding the other day to make a speech defending the invasion, he conspicuously avoided accusing Iraq of working with Al Qaeda. Instead, the vice president was reduced to saying Hussein 'cultivated ties to terrorist groups,' about as weaselly a formulation as you could devise."

Other districts won't follow N-Y's lead on drug testing (August 5, 2003)
"But while school officials in Nelsonville are pleased with their new drug testing program, and are considering expanding it to include more students, there are no plans to do any drug testing in either the Alexander or Athens school districts."

Excess in the drug war (August 4, 2003)
"If you oppose using your tax dollars to persecute doctors who, because of the bizarre fixations of our drug warriors, can legally prescribe morphine for minor surgical pain but cannot prescribe a much safer drug to relieve the agony of terminal cancer patients, let your elected representatives know. Of all the excesses and absurdities of the drug war, the federal government's persecution of medical marijuana is perhaps the most barbaric and indefensible."

The International Drug War's Illusory Victories (August 4, 2003)
"But there are ample reasons to be skeptical. For example, even as coca production declines in Colombia, it is on the rise in neighboring Peru, which had been hailed as one of the "supply side" successes in the mid- and late 1990s. Moreover, there are signs of increased coca production in several of Colombia's neighbors, such as Ecuador, Venezuela, and Brazil -- countries that up to this time have not been major factors in the drug trade."

Fleeced by Anti-Drug Ads (August 4, 2003)
"...a series of federally funded evaluations of the program have consistently shown that the ads fail to discourage viewers from trying pot or other drugs, and in some cases actually foster "pro-drug" beliefs among teens."

US anti-war activists hit by secret airport ban (August 4, 2003)
"After more than a year of complaints by some US anti-war activists that they were being unfairly targeted by airport security, Washington has admitted the existence of a list, possibly hundreds or even thousands of names long, of people it deems worthy of special scrutiny at airports."

Clean up your act, police told (August 4, 2003)
"'We have to get tough' with abusive cops."

Colombian rebels feel pinch of drug war, U.S. says (August 4, 2003)
"Colombia's outlawed armies are running short of cash as a U.S.-backed military onslaught squeezes the world's largest cocaine industry, U.S. drug czar John Walters said on Thursday." Considering all the other lies told to justify the WOSDU, why would anyone at all believe this guy and his ilk?

FBI and CIA probing Saudi links to 9/11 (August 3, 2003)
"The FBI and CIA, under intense pressure from Congress, have reopened an investigation into whether Saudi Arabian officials aided the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking plot that killed more than 3,000 people, US and Saudi officials said yesterday." It has been 2 years now since the attacks. What in the world has been taking them so long to "reopen" an investigation?

Teachers caught in crossfire of Colombia's drug war (August 3, 2003)
"Working in impoverished areas where roads are mined and combat is frequent makes life difficult for teachers. But it is their use as pawns by leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary forces that makes education a dangerous career choice in Colombia."

Justice Dept. News Conf.: Mexican Drug Cartel Arrests (August 2, 2003)
"U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft speaks on a news conference in Washington about the arrest of more than 240 people as part of a U.S.-Mexican joint effort called "Operation Trifecta," which targeted a drug cartel headed by Ismael Zambada-Garcia that imported tons of drugs into U.S. from Mexico. Larry Thompson, John Walters and Michele Leonhart also speak."

The Drug War Goes Up in Smoke (August 2, 2003)
"More than a million people are serving time in our prisons and jails for nonviolent offenses, most drug-related, at a cost to the public of some $9.4 billion a year. Many billions more are spent by the states and the federal government on drug interdiction, drug-law enforcement and drug prosecutions...And yet drug use has actually soared, with twice as many teenagers reporting illegal drug use in 2000 as in 1992."

Sailors Fighting America's 'Other War' Come Home (August 2, 2003)
Sailor's (sic) Mission On U.S.S. McInerney Deemed Successful...The sailors on the USS McInerney were at sea for the past six months. They covered more than 3,600 miles of territory from the Carribean Sea to the eastern Pacific Ocean. They seized 10 ½ pounds of contraband and obtained 30 suspects." That's successful? A successful waste of our tax money is more like it!

It's time for a serious reevaluation of social costs of our war on drugs (August 2, 2003)
"American taxpayers spend an inordinate amount of money keeping fellow citizens locked up. And thanks in large part to a failed 'War on Drugs,' the amount they spend just keeps growing."

U.S. Attorney Mercer explains his office's role in Indian Country (August 2, 2003)
"'There's little doubt we haven't won the war on drugs by cutting off supply. We've put a lot of people in jail, but it hasn't satisfied the need to eliminate the demand,' he said. One of the most effective tools law enforcement has is handing down stiff penalties to drug dealers, Mercer said."

Voters promised war on meth, economic fix (August 2, 2003)
"Heading into western Kentucky and a showdown with Ben Chandler, Republican Ernie Fletcher on Friday promised a new attack on a particular scourge of the region - the illicit trade in methamphetamine - if elected governor."

Police Go To War On Drugs Crime (August 2, 2003)
"Police are launching a war on drug crime after a senior officer admitted that Nottingham has a 'significant' crack cocaine problem."

Sidestepping on Iraq (August 2, 2003)
"Given the rambling non-answers the president gave to questions about Iraq and the economy, it was interesting to hear how focused he was when someone asked how, with no opponent, he planned to spend $170 million or more on the primary. 'Just watch me,' Mr. Bush said concisely. There is one area in which the president's thinking is crystal clear."

Senate Unanimously Confirms Prosecutor as DEA Chief (August 2, 2003)
"A longtime Justice Department drug prosecutor [Karen P. Tandy] is expected to become the first woman to head the Drug Enforcement Administration as the agency takes a broader role in battling drug trafficking on the federal level." Tandy is not known for her compassion for medical marijuana users, nor for any of her fellow human beings for that matter.

George W. Bush Means Nothing (August 2, 2003)
"I know you want to shut us down. I know you would love nothing more than if all resistance was mowed under and all perversions were bleached dead and all nuanced questioning of your malicious antihumanitarian agenda was numbed to the point of blind flag-waving psychopatriotism, one born of fear and misinformation and photos of the bloody mutilated bodies of Saddam's demon sons."

Rebuilding Iraq May Cost Up to $100 Billion, Bremer Says (August 2, 2003)
So are we US taxpayers supposed to pay for this rebuilding? What about spending our taxmoney upon ourselves instead of helping various corporations and the military profit of their evil war?

Man Jailed For Comments On Jury Form (August 1, 2003)
"Officials say the Traverse City