DrugWar.com News Archive
August, 2005

Marijuana Pipe Dreams (Aug. 30, 2005- Free NYTimes registration required)
"Medicine by regulation is better than medicine by referendum,' he [US Supreme Court Justice Justice Stephen Breyer] said. In theory, that sounds reasonable. But what if the officials doing the regulation are afflicted with a bad case of Reefer Madness?"

Acute pain not helped by pot (Aug. 30, 2005)
"Although many experts believe cannabis may help relieve chronic (or long-term) pain, the guidelines launched in Sydney yesterday by federal Health Minister Tony Abbott say solid evidence now shows it has little efficacy with acute pain. Acute pain is defined as pain lasting up to two to three weeks after surgery, trauma or a medical condition such as kidney stones."

Police investigating an apparent hate crime (Aug. 26, 2005)
Someone decided to try and convert Ed Forchion, a Rastafarian and out-spoken New Jersey proponent for marijuana, to following Christ by spraypainting his garage.

BC Marijuana Party leader says if he goes to jail in the U.S., he'll die there (Aug. 26, 2005)
"The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency wants Emery extradited on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, claiming he sold marijuana seeds to Americans over the internet. Emery said if he's sent to the U.S. he'll either die in jail or be murdered there."

Placer County, Still Murderous After All These Years (Aug. 26, 2005)
"Kubbys Find Secret 'Death Warrant' Signed by Disqualified Judge. Key To Canadian Refuge, If Not Justice In California."

“Iraq in Utah” (Aug. 25, 2005)
"If disaster was so imminent, and warranted 90 men in uniform, why wasn’t the rave politely stopped before it started? Perhaps because the spectacle of an outdoor event, like a rave itself, is a lot more fun than sitting at home." Cops go nuts on ravers out dancing and listening to music.

Police Chief Sees Drug Toll With Father's Eyes (Aug. 25, 2005-free NYTimes registration required)
"Nicole Sesker sleeps in vacant buildings. She sells her body to buy heroin, living from trick to trick and fix to fix while dodging police officers who chase her from the street corners she haunts in plastic heels....In Baltimore, where the drug trade has brought one of the highest murder rates in the country, her story might not seem remarkable except for one detail: the stepfather who raised her from age 3 is the city's newest police commissioner, Leonard D. Hamm."

'Rapid Detox' May Be Life-Threatening (Aug. 25, 2005)
"Internet ads for "ultra rapid detox" using anesthesia promise pain-free withdrawal from heroin and prescription painkillers. But the technique can be life-threatening, is not pain-free and has no advantage over other methods, a new study of 106 patients found."

Thompson's ashes fired into sky (Aug. 21, 2005)
One of my favorite actors, Johnny Depp, paid for the cannon, to fire off the ashes into the sky of my favorite writer. To Thompson a fond fairwell, to Depp and fond thank you for caring enough to do this.

Panel on Prison Rape Hears Victims' Chilling Accounts (Aug. 21, 2005- Free NYTimes registration requiered)
Prison is a horror show in the United State, as these victims can and have attested.

Arrests in Major Federal Drug Investigation, Over Fifty Defendants Charged (Aug. 18, 2005)
"Acting United States Attorney Jonathan S. Gasser, stated that approximately sixty (60) defendants have been charged and arrested in connection with Operation A Arrango an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation involving multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the Midlands."

Crime Control: Emerging Criminal Enterprises (Aug. 18, 2005)
"While most of the focus of federal law enforcement is on counterterrorism, federal police agencies must still contend with more traditional anti-crime operations including emerging organized crime gangs."

Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court (Aug. 18, 2005)
"Immediately after the news of the high court's ruling, attorneys general in the states that have approved the use of medical marijuana emphasized that the practice remained legal under their state laws, and a telephone survey of a random national sample of registered voters, commissioned by the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, indicated that 68 percent of respondents opposed federal prosecution of patients who use marijuana for medical reasons. Nationally, most marijuana arrests are made by state and local law-enforcement agencies, with federal arrests accounting for only about 1 percent of cases. However, soon after the decision was announced, federal agents raided 3 of San Francisco's more than 40 medical marijuana dispensaries."

Able Danger Intel Exposed "Protected" Heroin Trafficking (Aug. 18, 2005)
"Mohamed Atta was protected from official scrutiny as part of an officially-protected cocaine and heroin trafficking network with ties to top political figures, including Republican officials Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris, and it was this fact—and not the “terrible lapses” of “weak on terror” Clinton Administration officials cited by Republican Congressman Curt Weldon—which shielded him from being apprehended before the 9.11 attack."

Mexican drug cartels' wars move closer to U.S. border (Aug. 18, 2005)
"The kingpins of this hemisphere's illegal drug trade are no longer Colombians. In the largest shake-up since the 1980s, Mexican cartels have leveraged the profits from their delivery routes to wrest control from Colombian producers, senior U.S. drug officials say. The shift also is the result of the success Colombian and U.S. authorities have had in cracking down on Colombia's drug lords."

U.S. war a flop: Judge (Aug. 16, 2005)
The war on drugs isn't working and every American politician knows it. But instead of making changes, politicians would rather continue receiving war-on-drug funding, California state judge James Gray told members of the Canadian Bar Association in Vancouver yesterday. 'Our biggest cash crop in California is marijuana,' said Gray. 'That shows you how good of a job we're doing. We couldn't be doing worse if we tried.'"

B.C. pot activist alleges customers in danger of entrapment in war on drugs (Aug. 16, 2005)
"B.C. pot activist Marc Emery is warning his marijuana seed customers their orders may have been intercepted by U.S. justice officials. He also alleges that those people are now being sent letters by drug enforcement authorities in a surreptitious move to entrap them. 'These people are being set up to be busted in their own homes,' Emery said on Monday. 'They should be very alarmed.'"

They're hoping we all die before they have to answer (Aug. 15, 2005)
"Oh, and by the way, in case you're wondering why nobody's using the Data Quality Act against the ONDCP... In their guidelines, they've actually exempted all statements made by ONDCP personnel to the press from being covered by the Data Quality Act."

Marc Emery, Martyr for the Cause (Aug. 15, 2005)
"The editors at Rolling Stone added this for the ‘deck,’ the summary of the story that goes under the headline: 'Canada’s largest West Coast city is testing a newly tolerant attitude toward marijuana. Will this hail a common-sense drug policy north of the border, or is it just a Prague Spring for pot activists?' Seems like the Prague Spring lasted seven years. In the end the metaphorical equivalent of Russian tanks rolled in and crushed the revolution by crushing one man: Marc Emery. Even the website for Cannabis Culture, the magazine Emery sponsors (it sells 60,000 paper copies each issue, only 2,000 by subscription-- the other 58,000 are mostly plucked from newsstands in small and medium sized towns in the American heartland), reacted by grimly tolling the bell for the end of an era: 'If the DEA wants to shut down ALL marijuana seed retailers in the world, and screw a lot of growers, for sure they can do so. They have the power, they have the intent, and they have the guns.'"

Statement from DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy Major North American Marijuana Trafficker Self-Proclaimed “Prince of Pot” aka Marc Scott Emery Arrested Today (Aug. 15, 2005)
The DEA sent out this press release about their convincing the Canadian police to help in arresting Marc Emery, owner of Cannabis Culture magazine and world-renowned seed salesman (misspelling his first name in their press release) on July 29, 2005, to select reporters and other recipients, but neglected to actually post it publicly on the DEA's website until August 11, 2005. By proclaiming that by arresting and hopefully (for the DEA) getting Emery extradicted to the US to stand trial, the DEA has gotten rid of a major financial contributor to the harm-reduction/pro-drug law reform movement, Karen Tandy, head of the DEA, may have shot huge freakin' holes in the DEA's chances for an extradiction, as Canada has a problem with deporting their citizens to other countries for political purposes- criminals yes, that's cool with the Canadian government, but outspoken political opponents of another country's government, no, they don't take too kindly to that, and even have something in their laws specifically addressing such instances..

Arresting the Drug Laws (Aug. 10, 2005)
"In March, Howard Woolridge set out on horseback from Los Angeles to New York City wearing a T-shirt blaring the capitalized declaration: 'COPS SAY LEGALIZE POT, ASK ME WHY.' The former Michigan police officer, who plans to reach New York in November, is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group that wants to change our country’s drug laws."

Arianna Huffington: Support Our Troops: Call a Truce in America’s Drug War (Aug. 10, 2005)
"More and more soldiers coming home from Iraq are developing mental health problems (a recent study by the Army’s Surgeon General put the number at 30 percent). Already nearly 25,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets have been diagnosed with psychological ailments. Because of the nature of the fighting in Iraq -- constant threats, hard to discern enemy, ambiguous goals -- experts expect that number to continue to rise. And soldiers suffering from such problems are known to have higher rates of substance abuse. So how will we respond when the young men and women we sent to stamp out Saddam’s WMD...uh, I mean, bring democracy to the people of Iraq... start getting busted for taking to drugs to deal with their troubles? Will we 'stay the course' and do what we’ve being doing for decades (a failed strategy that has our prisons bursting at the seams, with around half-a-million people doing time on drug charges)? Or will we finally come to our senses and start dealing with nonviolent drug use as a medical problem not a criminal one?"

Eviction Is New Tool In War On Drugs (Aug. 10, 2005)
"Police in Lancaster are becoming more aggressive in their fight against drug dealers. They are now going after drug dealers' houses and they are getting help. Sgt. Gary Mackley and Tim Rohrer are working side by side, but Rohrer is not a fellow officer, he's a landlord."

What You Need to Know on Smoking and Lung Cancer (Aug. 10, 2005)
"TIME's Dr. Sanjay Gupta answers five questions" about smoking, the dangers, the risks, the consequences, and how to minimize the damages one causes to oneself by smoking tobacco.

9/11 Panel Members Ask Congress to Learn if Pentagon Withheld Files on Hijackers in 2000 (Aug. 10, 2005)
"Members of the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terror attacks called on Congress to determine whether the Pentagon withheld intelligence information showing that a secret American military unit had identified Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers as potential threats more than a year before the attacks. The former commission members said the information, if true, could rewrite an important chapter of the history of the intelligence failures before Sept. 11, 2001."

Debunking the Drug War (Aug. 9, 2005- Free NYTimes registation required)
"It was only after the authorities cracked down in the 1970's that many people turned to home labs, criminal gangs and more dangerous ways of ingesting the drug [Amphetamine]. It's the same pattern observed during Prohibition, when illicit stills would blow up, and there was a rise in deaths from alcohol poisoning. Far from instilling virtue in Americans, Prohibition caused them to switch from beer and wine to hard liquor. Overall consumption of alcohol might even have increased. Today we tolerate alcohol, even though it causes far more harm than illegal drugs, because we realize a ban would be futile, create more problems than it cured and deprive too many people of something they value. Amphetamines have benefits, too, which is why Air Force pilots are given them."

Venezuela Leader Accuses DEA of Espionage (Aug. 8, 2005)
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of using its agents for espionage, and said Venezuela was suspending cooperation with the U.S. agency....U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said last week that the United States had hoped to maintain cooperative anti-drug efforts in Venezuela, and that without them 'there is only one group that wins, and that group is the drug traffickers.' But Chavez maintains that the DEA has been using the fight against drugs as a pretext to gather intelligence on Venezuela."

Analytical separations of mixtures of hallucinogenic drugs (Aug. 8, 2005)
Using DrugWar.com's handy "way-back machine," (and a subscriber- actually the civilian discoverer of ibogaine's anti-addictive qualities and possibilities- to the ibogaine@mindvox.com email list) comes this 1969 report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. "A study was made of the separation of mixtures of dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, psilocybin, ibogaine, and lysergic acid diethylamide, using both gas chromatography and thin-layer chromatography. Temperature-programmed gas chromatography of the trimethylsilyl derivatives gave excellent separations, as did thin-layer chromatography of the original compounds, using a dual-solvent method." Very interesting reading for those who want to know more about the chemical make-up of these drugs.

BC justice calls illegal US Drug Enforcement Administration activities in Canada an "abuse of process" (Aug. 8, 2005)
"A British Columbia Supreme Court justice has called the illegal activities of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Canada in 1999 'blatant acts in disregard of Canadian sovereign values and law,' and 'so egregious as to constitute an abuse of process.' As a result, the judge stayed an application by the US government to have a suspect committed for extradition to the United States."

Italian river 'full of cocaine' (Aug. 8, 2005)
"The River Po was found to be carrying the equivalent of nearly 4kg (8.8lb) of cocaine daily. The Po Valley is home to about five million people. The study estimated daily consumption to be about 27 doses (100mg or 0.004oz each) per 1,000 young adults. The study was published by the web journal Environmental Health. The chemical tested - benzoylecgonine (BE) - had arrived via the sewage system from the urine of drug users. A by-product of cocaine metabolism, it cannot be produced by other means."

DEA pot case going up in smoke? (Aug. 8, 2005)
"'It would seem, from her [Karen Tandy] statements, this prosecution is about Mr. Emery's political efforts to legalize marijuana as much as it is about his business,' said Murray Mollard, director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Union."

Psychedelic drug, LSD-25, likely to be legalized in Russian medicine (Aug. 8, 2005)
"A special initiative group of scientists is establishing the Russian Psychedelic Society. The new organization has a goal to legalize the use of psychoactive drugs in official medicine, the mysterious lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD-25, first and foremost. A prominent US scientist, Stanislav Grof, is expected to participate in the first congress of the new organization, which is slated to take place in November 2005. Like Sigmund Freud or Carl Yung, Grof is said to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in psychology."

Emery and Free Speech (Aug. 8, 2005)
"The most troubling part of the case has been the DEA's drunken trumphalism. Karen Tandy & Co.'s gleeful braggadocio is obviously more about Emery's symbolic value as an activist than about curbing the amount of marijuana that can be traced back to his operation."

Cannabis May Offer Relief from Bowel Disorders (Aug. 3, 2005)
"Cannabis-based drugs could prove effective for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a British study has found. Researchers at the University of Bath were investigating whether cannabis -- marijuana -- can help relieve some IBD symptoms. They identified a potential new target for cannabis-based drugs to treat IBD, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Some IBD patients report that their symptoms are reduced after they use cannabis."

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Marijuana Seed Distributor: Canadian Who Calls Himself 'Prince of Pot' Arrested in Coordinated US- Canada Investigation (Aug. 3, 2005)
This is already getting old news, but this official corwing over Emory's arrest is so appalling, so disgusting, so flat out wrong that everyone should be SCREAMING about it at the top of their lungs. This stinkin', stupid war has got to end, and soon!

Inside Incarnation (Aug. 3, 2005)
."'The drugs had side effects, everybody knew that,' said Mimi. But the workers were told the drugs were saving the children's lives. After a young girl who had just gone on the drugs had a stroke and then quickly died, and another young boy who was put on thalidomide wasted away on a respirator, Mimi stopped believing that the drugs were just saving lives. She believed they were killing the children too."

5 things you can do to help Marc Emery (Aug. 3, 2005)
"Ihave received many emails and messages from people asking me what they can do to help prevent Marc Emery from being extradited to the US to face a lifetime in prison. Here are five simple, concrete things that anyone can do to make a positive impact on this situation."

'Prince of Pot' freed on bail (Aug. 2, 2005)
"B.C. Marijuana Party president Marc Emery, who faces extradition to the U.S. on drug and money-laundering charges, has been granted bail...None of the three [Emory and his traveling companions at the time of his arrest] face charges in Canada."