Who's a Rat (August 30, 2004)
This is now the largest online database of informant and agents. Visit to find out who in your areas has been fingered as a fink and a lackie for the Man, and do it quick, before the feds shut it down.

Anticapitalists, Marijuana Advocates Real Estate Barons? (August 30, 2004- Free NYTimes registration required)
"Mr. Beal said he would also use the building as a base to advocate the legalization of ibogaine, a derivative of an African shrub that he said has the ability to interrupt addiction to dangerous substances, like heroin."

Church may be facing federal prosecution (August 27, 2004)
"Oklevueha founder James Warren 'Flaming Eagle' Mooney received a letter on Thursday from the U. S. Department of Justice informing him that the federal government will not recognize a June ruling of the Utah Supreme Court that the church can distribute peyote to non-American Indians."

Praise for Long Beach Cops (August 27, 2004)
"The police in Long Beach, California would like it known that they displayed compassion and did the right thing while executing a search warrant. Here's the e-mail that was sent by one of the drug officers to an advocacy group for the disabled."

Mental Marijuana (August 27, 2004)
"Can reefers cure madness? There is some evidence that cannabis – or 'green Prozac' – has potential in the treatment of some psychiatric disorders, principally depression and bipolar disorder."

Don’t Help the Cops! (August 25, 2004)
Great advice to be taken to heart.

Va. Woman Jailed for Taking Methadone on Advice from Doctor (August 25, 2004)
"Kimberly Bucklin of Tazewell, Va., was sentenced to three years in prison for following her doctor's advice to take methadone to treat an OxyContin addiction. The judge in the case had prohibited Bucklin from taking methadone while on probation for drug possession, the Roanoke Times reported Aug. 21."

Vancouver's Prescription Heroin Initiative Receives Approval (August 25, 2004)
"The Canadian government has given the go-ahead to a 21-month pilot project in which heroin will be dispensed to addicted individuals in Vancouver, the Victoria Times Colonist reported Aug. 19."

Families pay for prison 'welfare' (August 24, 2004)
"Telephone companies and California counties have made hundreds of millions of dollars off some of the state's poorest people through high and unregulated phone rates for calls from local jails, an Associated Press investigation has found."

Marijuana questions on several local ballots (August 24, 2004)
"Drug reform activists, convinced that law enforcement resources would be better spent on other crimes, will ask voters in several area communities this fall to weigh in on reducing penalties for marijuana possession."

Festival celebrates hemp, also stirs political pot (August 24, 2004)
"Amid the bong sales, the drug-reform speeches and a certain aroma that permeated the annual pro-marijuana festival yesterday, Hempfest was also a venue for another cause: getting John Kerry to the White House."

Vagaries of our 'three strikes' law (August 24, 2004)
"The application of the law rests almost entirely in the hands of the district attorney as to whether he or she chooses to "strike" previous felonies from a defendant's record when prosecuting him. That's the main reason why there are vast differences in sentencing rates in counties throughout California."

Boy's Murder Case Entangled in Fight Over Antidepressants (August 24, 2004-Fre NYTimes registration required)
" While prosecutors portray him as a troubled killer, his defenders say the killings occurred for a reason beyond the boy's control - a reaction to the antidepressant Zoloft, a drug he had started taking for depression not long before the slayings."

Tough On Crime Has Failed (August 19, 2004)
"It seems to me that mandatory minimums are not meeting the challenge of deterring others from committing crimes. Not if we are the largest jailer in the world! Someone is arrested for drug offenses every 28 seconds. Talk about deterrence. I think not."

How to cut crime, save lives and aid police: Legalize meth (August 19, 2004)
"If Desoxyn, the legal pharmaceutical form of methamphetamine, was legally available to adults without a prescription in local pharmacies for pennies per dose, would we have illegal clandestine meth labs throughout the nation? I don't think so."

What changes do you want to see from the 2004 elections? (August 19, 2004)
"The African American community needs to get America’s bad habit - 'The War on Drugs' - dropped like a hot potato!"

A national disgrace (August 19, 2004)
"Prison has become a dumping ground for vulnerable and mentally disturbed people, says Eric Allison."

U.S. joins Afghan fight against drug trade (August 19, 2004)
"Rumsfeld says heroin poses greatest threat to Afghan stability."

Ex-prisoner helps Stillwater inmates learn creative writing (August 18, 2004)
"'Wilson’s play got me to thinking about how I ended up where I was at,' said Harris, a 40-something-year-old black man with long dreadlocks, a smile that lights his entire face and a melodious voice made for reciting poems. After a total of 13 years in prison for drug-related charges, he now lives in St. Paul and is the founder of the writing group In The Belly."

Profits come before patients (August 18, 2004)
"Recent opinion polls show that Americans regard the pharmaceutical industry with roughly the same level of contempt as Big Tobacco. This comparison, between the international cartel of life-saving drugs and the conglomerate of killer tobacco, is remarkably astute: Both are murderers."

Lawmakers concerned about bail bond system (August 18, 2004)
"Newton suggested that the legislature create a sliding scale for bond rates that depends upon the seriousness of the crime. An accused murderer, for example, would have to pay the highest fee while an accused drug user would pay the smallest fee."

More US Support for Death and Destruction in Colombia (August 18, 2004)
Bush ok's yet more bloodshed, hate and murder at US taxpayer expense, waging endless War on Colombian peasants and campasinos.

Marijuana measure called effective by supporters and foes (August 18, 2004)
"Seattleites aren't going to pot — or jail — since voters passed I-75, the initiative that made marijuana the city's lowest law-enforcement priority."

Medical Marijuana Patients Coordinate Mass Court Action (August 17, 2004)
"On Tuesday, more than three dozen patients across the state will be in their respective county courthouses filing motions for return of nearly a million dollars’ worth of marijuana. Humboldt County’s Courthouse will most likely be one of them."

Hemp mascot gets marching orders (August 14, 2004)
It's thanks to prohibition and its idiocies and illinformed enforcers that lead to incredibly silly and outright stupid situations like the one discussed here.

'Big decline' in Colombia cocaine (August 14, 2004)
"US 'drugs tsar' John Walters has said the production of coca, the raw material for cocaine, has declined in Colombia by 30% in the past two years....The statement appears to contradict comments he made last week. While in Mexico, he said there was no fall in the amount of cocaine reaching the US." Walters is just another blatant maniac of a prohibitionist liar who can't keep his stupid stories straight.

Bush's Born Again Drug War (August 13, 2004)
"Whereas previous administrations commonly framed their anti-drug arguments in secular terms, Bush's drug war, at least rhetorically, resembles that of a religious crusade."

Aglipay dismisses 23 CL cops found using drugs (August 13, 2004)
"Police Deputy Director-General Edgar B. Aglipay ordered here yesterday the summary dismissal from the service of 23 policemen in Central Luzon found positive of using illegal drugs."

Iowa Ranks Lowest in Use of Illegal Drugs (August 13, 2004)
"There is some confusion over whether the numbers account for methamphetamine, which is often used in Iowa."

Victim 61 involved in illegal drugs: wife (August 13, 2004)
"Danilo Mandelo's wife said Tuesday that her husband, the 61st victim in the spate of vigilante-style killings in Davao City since January, had been involved in the illegal drugs trade."

Rats can become addicts, studies show (August 13, 2004)
"Two new studies show that addicted rats exhibit the same compulsive drive for cocaine as people do."

Ibogaine (August 12, 2004)
This is the New York State Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services website on Ibogaine. Rock on! But wait! This stuff isn't legal in the US, yet here it is listed on an official state government webpage about addiction medicines.

Who's Counting? (August 12, 2004)
Even better, who is going to finally stop these murderous maniacs who continue to blow each other and the rest of us too to kingdom come? Aren't they getting a bit tired yet, or are they still making way too much money and power off death and murder?

Murder suspects dismissed after waiting 7 years for trial (August 12, 2004)
"Seven years ago, prosecutors called James Drayton a ruthless drug dealer responsible for one of the city's bloodiest drug wars and vowed to put him and his crew away where they could never repeat their crimes."

“The War on The Cocaleros Has Brought Bolivia Nothing But Poverty and Death.” (August 12, 2004)
"With her long braids hanging from under a traditional white straw hat and her calm, motherly air, Leonilda Zurita Vargas doesn’t look like a narco-terrorist."

How Far Will Bush Go? (August 12, 2004)
"Having freed themselves from the moral qualms that restrained even the Nixon Administration, Team Bush can do things that lesser mortals would never dream of. They have cast themselves as Supermen."

Probe shocks residents (August 8, 2004)
"Weatherly police chief under investigation by state narcotics agency."

Officials critique anti-drug commercials (August 8, 2004)
"Many local authorities think anti-drug television commercials have little lasting impact."

Monitoring the Drug War in Bolivia (August 8, 2004)
"The Andean Information Network is a nonprofit organization that attempts to mitigate social conflicts, injustices and inequalities caused and amplified by the US war on drugs in Bolivia."

Tajikistan Arrests Anti-Drug Agency Head (August 8, 2004)
"The head of Tajkistan's U.N.-backed anti-narcotics agency was detained Friday on suspicion of illegal weapons possession after thousands of guns were found in the organization's headquarters, the country's top prosecutor said."

US anti-drug campaign 'failing' (August 7, 2004)
"US drugs tsar John Walters has admitted that Washington's anti-narcotics policy in Latin America has so far failed. Mr Walters said in Mexico that billions of dollars of investment over many years have failed to dent the flow of Latin American cocaine onto US streets....But he predicted positive results would be seen within a year." Wait a minute, does he mean that this time we're really, honestly going to get our money's worth? That sure is believable.

Bush Zones Go National (August 7, 2004)
America, the land of the free, home of the brave...but only be free and brave in designated zones or you are in trouble!

Demagoguery and the Advocacy of Medical Marijuana Reform (August 7, 2004)
"The drug policy reform community is woefully ignorant about the federal rescheduling process. As a result patients, the public, and activists have all been misled about the actual mechanisms by which medical marijuana must be approved by the federal government."

Jon Carroll on Drugs (August 7, 2004)
"Sometimes, when my tiny head is spinning with disinfotainment and other artifacts of the mediasphere, I try to think what archaeologists and social historians 2,000 years from now might make of our particular little epoch. How, for instance, would they parse the word 'drug'?"

DETROIT PROPOSAL: Voters approve medical use of marijuana (August 4, 2004)
Medical marijuana is now legal in Michigan, on the state level anyway. The feds can and will continue to screw patients, not to mention the rest of those US citizens who use current illicit drugs..

New Doubt Cast on Crime Testing in Houston Cases (August 4, 2004-Free NYTimes registration required)
"'We know already that they couldn't do DNA testing properly,' Mr. Scheck said. 'Now we have a scandal that calls into question many thousands more cases. And this jurisdiction has produced more executions than any other county in America.'"

One Smokin' Team- All Weed NFL (August 4, 2004)
An accounting of various all-pro NFL players who have smoked weed for years, and the smoking didn't seem to hurt they're playing- until they got caught anyway.

The answer lies in the pip: Sardinian discovery rewrites the history of wine (August 4, 2004)
"A trowelful of pips and sediment is in the process of overturning the centuries-old snobbery with which mainland Italian connoisseurs have regarded the rustic wines of Sardinia. The world's largest wine producer has discovered that it owes a massive debt to the island's growers."

Stressed Israeli soldiers to be treated with cannabis: report (August 4, 2004)
"Israeli soldiers suffering from combat stress after tours of duty in the Palestinian territories could soon be treated with cannabis to relieve their symptoms, the Maariv daily reported Wednesday."

The 9/11 Commission Report is a Fraud (August 3, 2004)
"The 9/11 Commission Final Report is a complete fraud. Reading the very first chapter of the report, and comparing it to what has been documented by the mainstream media can, and will, prove this."

Bush Using Drugs to Control Depression, Erratic Behavior (August 3, 2004)
Just a reminder, if you missed this story last week.

Sentinel overstated deaths caused solely by oxycodone (AUgust 3, 2004-Free registration required)
"However, a re-examination of FDLE data and autopsy reports showed that only about a quarter of those deaths were caused solely by oxycodone. In roughly three out of four cases, medical examiners concluded that at least one other drug also contributed to the victims' deaths."

Montanans to decide on medical marijuana in November (August 2, 2004)
"Come November, Montana voters will have a chance to change this state's marijuana laws. Activists from the Marijuana Policy Project of Montana raised more than enough signatures — some 25,000 — to get their medical marijuana initiative placed on the general election ballot."

Dayton: FAA, NORAD hid 9/11 failures (August 2, 2004)
"Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., charged Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) have covered up 'catastrophic failures' that left the nation vulnerable during the Sept. 11 hijackings."

Another F.B.I. Employee Blows Whistle on Agency (August 2, 2004)
"Law enforcement officials have become increasingly concerned that militant domestic groups could seek to collaborate with foreign-based terrorist groups like Al Qaeda because of a shared hatred of the American government. This has become a particular concern in prisons."

Cancer vaccine startles researchers (August 2, 2004)
"An experimental cancer vaccine being tested for its safety and toxicity has produced startling results, appearing to provide immunity from the disease and leaving most patients cancer-free after more than two years."

Britain's war on drugs is naive, says US (August 2, 2004)
"'Our military is absolutely apoplectic at the thought of getting anywhere near any of these issues. They don't want to be dragged into a drug war like they were in South America and they don't want to do anything that will make their job harder. There's no question if you could go after the drug trade right now, in any way, shape or form, it's going to cause ripples. If we said fine, we're just going to give away money and attack drugs labs, you don't think that wouldn't cause instability?'" So said one US official in the US embassy in Afghanistan.

Navajo Experts on Crime Seek Reconciliation, Not Retribution (August 1, 2004)
"Two experts in Navajo justice say there's a better alternative to the white man's way of punishing criminals, which has filled the nation's prisons and torn apart countless families, regardless of whether the punishment makes the criminal a better person or helps the victim heal."

The 800lb Gorilla in American Foreign Policy (August 1, 2004)
"When disappearance became state practice across Latin America in the 70s it aroused revulsion in democratic countries where it is a fundamental tenet of legitimate government that no state actor may detain - or kill - another human being without having to answer to the law. Not only has President Bush discarded that principle, he even brags about it."

Report: Afghanistan Could Implode (August 1, 2004)
"The wide-ranging report on the war against terrorism also said raised concerns over the failure of the UK government and its allies to limit the production of opium in Afghanistan."