DrugWar.com News Archive
July, 2005

Europe: Magic Mushrooms Now Illegal in Great Britain (July 24, 2005)
"The British government has reclassified magic mushrooms as Class-A drugs under the Drugs Act of 2005, so what was a legal business activity last week is now punishable by up to life in prison. Even simple possession for personal use can now garner a prison sentence of up to seven years. In scheduling the trippy fungi as Class-A drugs, the British government is saying it considers them as dangerous as cocaine or heroin."

CDC study shows that most people in the U.S., including children, carry multiple pesticides in their bodies (June 24, 2005)
"Scientists at Pesticide Action Network North America analyzed pesticide data in a study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), finding that more than 90% of those tested carried a mixture of pesticides in their bodies. Many of these chemicals have been linked to health effects such as cancer, birth defects and neurological problems...Most of these pesticides, such as DDT, chlordane and dieldrin, have been banned for decades. The organochlorine insecticide lindane, however, continues to be used in the U.S. though it has been banned in more than 50 other countries around the world."

Bush administration criticized over Colombian demobilization bill (July 22, 2005)
"The Bush administration has decided to support a controversial Colombian bill that has angered U.S. senators and human-rights groups who say it lets paramilitary killers and drug traffickers off the hook if they surrender." Do these same politicians feel the same "anger" over Oliver North and his ilk getting away with drug trafficking, or at least enabling drug trafficking by their allies over the years?

States’ drug-enforcement leaders fear cuts in funding (July 22, 2005)
"Missouri and Kansas officials are trying to save federal funding they say is crucial in fighting illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine. President Bush has called for abolishing the $634 million Byrne Grant program, which finances drug task forces that often focus on meth in rural and urban areas." Bush and friends know that if there ever really were an effective anti-drug campaign, they or someone like them would be obliged to kill it, thus we see such "cuts" as those mentioned above.

Afghan government burns 60 tonnes of drugs (July 22, 2005)
"Afghanistan has destroyed 60 tonnes of illegal drugs with a street value of hundreds of millions of dollars in the past two weeks in a bid to avoid becoming a narco-state, an official said on Wednesday." Considering the record sized crops Afghanistan has been churning out since US troops entered the country, 60 tons doesn't seem like all that much.

The CIA and the War on Drugs (July 22, 2005)
"In the 19th century the British fought two Opium Wars to gain the freedom to impose opium on the Chinese people. In the past 50 years the CIA has started and supported more wars than we can count. We haven’t begun yet to talk about Africa and the rest of South America. They have done this to support reactionary regimes and to suppress popular movements abroad, and they have financed their adventures by selling drugs to young people here in America."

Punishing Pain (July 19, 2005-Free NYTimes registration required)
"Mr. Paey is merely the most outrageous example of the problem as he contemplates spending the rest of his life on a three-inch foam mattress on a steel prison bed. He told me he tried not to do anything to aggravate his condition because going to the emergency room required an excruciating four-hour trip sitting in a wheelchair with his arms and legs in chains. The odd thing, he said, is that he's actually getting better medication than he did at the time of his arrest because the State of Florida is now supplying him with a morphine pump, which gives him more pain relief than the pills that triggered so much suspicion. The illogic struck him as utterly normal."

Dental marijuana faces uphill fight (July 18, 2005)
"A group of California activists hoping to legalize marijuana for dental purposes only may be facing an uphill struggle in their legislative battle, a spokesperson for the group said today." Is this serious or parody? Hard to tell, but it's a fun read none-the-less, and certainly some folks are helped by a good toke on the bong prior to a visit to the dentist.

Weedman makes gubernatorial bid (July 18, 2005)
"'NJWeedman.com 4 Governor' is his latest message. According to NJWeedman.com, Forchion has one big problem. 'I can't even campaign in public without being accosted by the police,' Forchion said in an interview Sunday. With the arrest record to prove it NJWeedman.com, or Edward Forchion as he is known in the system is no stranger to the police....His website, NJWeedman.com, explains in detail this and other similar experiences he has undergone. The website covers his ongoing mission extensively."

CIA Admits Ties to Contra Drug Dealers (July 17, 2005)
"Floor Remarks of Rep. Maxine Waters July 17, 1998."

Former Ogilvy exec Seifert sentenced to 18 months in prison (July 15, 2005)
"A federal judge today sentenced Shona Seifert to 18 months in prison and ordered her to pay a $125,000 fine for her role in the Ogilvy & Mather scheme to over bill the government on its national anti-drug ad account. The judge also ordered her to develop a written code of conduct for the advertising industry."

US-backed Plan Colombia impracticable in Peru: drug official (July 14, 2005)
"Peru will not follow the US-backed Plan Colombia in its own efforts to contain coca production, the country's anti-drug agency chief said Wednesday. The program is impracticable as it means the eradication of allcoca cultivation in Peru, where legal growers are allowed to produce an annual nine tons of coca leaves for medical purpose, according to Nils Ericsson, head of the agency, Devida."

Two More WTC Workers Come Forward, One Seriously Burned And The Other Hurt While Trapped In Basement Elevator, Both Claiming Massive Explosion Took Place In Lower Levels Of North Tower On 9/11 (July 14, 2005)
"The two men's eye-witness testimony, never before released in America, aired as part of a Spanish 2002 television 9/11 documentary in Colombia; Total of four eye-witnesses have now surfaced, all claiming a bomb exploded in the basement of the north tower just prior to airplane strike 90 floors above. Although testimony is in the public eye, it has been completely ignored by 9/11 Commission and mainstream media.in what looks like a government cover-up aided by a media blackout."

US prescription drug abusers top 15 million- study (July 13, 2005)
"The report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University suggested that more Americans were abusing controlled prescription drugs than cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin combined."

Let a Thousand Licensed Poppies Bloom (July 13, 2005)
"Even as Afghanistan's immense opium harvest feeds lawlessness and instability, finances terrorism and fuels heroin addiction, the developing world is experiencing a severe shortage of opium-derived pain medications, according to the World Health Organization. Developing countries are home to 80 percent of the world's population, but they consume just 6 percent of the medical opioids. In those countries, most people with cancer, AIDS and other painful conditions live and die in agony. The United States wants Afghanistan to destroy its potentially merciful crop, which has increased sevenfold since 2002 and now constitutes 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product."

London Underground Bombing 'Exercises' Took Place at Same Time as Real Attack (July 12, 2005)
"A consultancy agency with government and police connections was running an exercise for an unnamed company that revolved around the London Underground being bombed at the exact same times and locations as happened in real life on the morning of July 7th."

The struggle against terrorism cannot be won by military means (July 12, 2005)
"Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally 'the database', was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians."

We're Not in Watergate Anymore (July 11, 2005)
"When John Dean published his book 'Worse Than Watergate' in the spring of 2004, it seemed rank hyperbole: an election-year screed and yet another attempt by a Nixon alumnus to downgrade Watergate crimes by unearthing worse 'gates' thereafter. But it's hard to be dismissive now that my colleague Judy Miller has been taken away in shackles for refusing to name the source for a story she never wrote. No reporter went to jail during Watergate. No news organization buckled like Time. No one instigated a war on phony premises. This is worse than Watergate."

Israeli researcher develops cannabis compound with unique anti-cancer action (July 11, 2005)
"Whether or not the potential medical benefits of marijuana outweigh the dangers is a long-debated issue and currently a political hot potato. A recent Israeli breakthrough adds a new twist: a 25-year old Hebrew University doctoral student has developed a derivative of the cannabis plant which has been shown to be effective in arresting cancerous growths in laboratory and animal tests."

Drug Czar: We don't care about problems, just numbers (July 11, 2005)
"So a survey of sheriff's departments in 45 states found that most of them think meth is the biggest problem they're facing. The White House, however, is not particularly interested in adjusting their high-profile, expensive national campaign to demonize marijuana."

Lawmaker prods court, raises brows (July 11, 2005)
"In an extraordinary move, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee privately demanded last month that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago change its decision in a narcotics case because he didn't believe a drug courier got a harsh enough prison term. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), in a five-page letter dated June 23 to Chief Judge Joel Flaum, asserted that a June 16 decision by a three-judge appeals court panel was wrong." Rep. Sensenbrenner is out of his freakin' mind, not to mention flat out evil. What a jerk.

Allegations of Fake Research Hit New High (July 11, 2005)
"Allegations of misconduct by U.S. researchers reached record highs last year as the Department of Health and Human Services received 274 complaints - 50 percent higher than 2003 and the most since 1989 when the federal government established a program to deal with scientific misconduct." Don't suppose much of this faked research has been used to bolster the War on Some Drugs and Users, right? Of course it has.

London Underground Bombing 'Exercises' Took Place at Same Time as Real Attack (July 11, 2005)
"A consultancy agency with government and police connections was running an exercise for an unnamed company that revolved around the London Underground being bombed at the exact same times and locations as happened in real life on the morning of July 7th." This sort of thing also happened on Sept. 11, 2001, although it was official denied for a while, as you can see in this story at The Memory Hole website, run by the brilliant editor Russ Kick: On 9/11, CIA Was Running Simulation of a Plane Crashing into a Building.

U.S. beer maker in camera brouhaha (July 11, 2005)
"Beer maker Anheuser-Busch Cos. may have to reinstate several employees fired for using illegal drugs at work because the company used hidden cameras without informing the employees' union, a U.S. federal appeals court ruled Tuesday."

Pa. drug law has new bite (July 11, 2005)
"Selling drug paraphernalia is no different than being a member of the Mob in the eyes of the law, according to the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court."

Penalties for Cannabis Possession in Toronto Old City Hall punishes potheads with community service (July 11, 2005)
"Fellow pothead charged with possession of 28.3 grams of Cannabis from a raid on his house. Lets call him John Doe."

Secret report says war on hard drugs has failed (July 4, 2005)
"Researchers found that stamping down on hard drugs through the police and courts had little effect on production and found no evidence that attacking drug supply had any impact on the harm caused by heroin and crack users. The full report provides a powerful argument for legalising drugs so they are not controlled by criminals." But half the report has been surpressed: "The full findings of the 105-page report contained such a devastating critique of the government's policy of prohibition they are unlikely ever to be published." The current version released to the public ends on page 53.

Commercial Marijuana Research Gets Green Light (July 7, 2005)
"PhytoCan Pharmaceuticals is developing the first certified organic cannabis based medicines. The BC company is producing products in adherence to the new federal government national organic standards. Health Canada has conditionally approved PhytoCan Pharmaceuticals Inc. to conduct scientific research into cannabis based medicines using Island Harvest(TM) certified organic cannabis."

G-8 Leaders Remain Split on Global Warming (July 7, 2005)
IS Bush or isn't Bush still drinking alcohol? What other reason for him many spills and crashes, his falling down, his bumps and scrapes? "The summit began Wednesday with a formal dinner hosted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Bush attended even though he suffered scrapes on his hands and arms after colliding with a local Scottish police officer while biking on rain-soaked roads around the 850-acre estate. The officer was treated for a minor ankle injury at a local hospital."

China to use electric acupuncture to cure drug addicts (July 5, 2005)
I gues this is when they aren't killing addicts in grand fesitvals every year.

NASA beats up innocent flying comet (July 4, 2005)
"US SPACE AGENCY NASA issued photos and videos showing its unprecedented and unprovoked attack on innocent space wandering comet Tempel 1." Seriously, this is a pretty cool event, one of those "first time ever" things, and well worth checking out for those space cadets into space exploration and pondering the cosmos while under the influence, if you will.

America's Ministry of Propaganda Exposed -- Parts 1 - 4 (July 3, 2005)
"A Strategy of Lies: How the White House Fed the Public a Steady Diet of Falsehoods."

Global: World Drug Trade Worth $320 Billion Annually, UN Says (July 2, 2005)
"The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued its World Drug Report 2005 Wednesday. Among its most startling findings is that the global drug trade generates more than $320 billion a year in revenues, primarily from retail drug sales. 'The size of the world's illicit drug industry is thus equivalent to 0.9% of the world's Gross Domestic Product or higher than the GDP of 88% of the countries in the world,' Carsten Hyttel, East African representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told a Nairobi news conference."

Weekly: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories (July 2, 2005)
"Another week, another batch of crooked law enforcement personnel. A sticky-fingered evidence room guard gets his reward, a long-running Dallas scandal takes down another cop, a New York City transit cop gets in trouble for his day job, and yet another prison guard gets caught peddling goodies to the inmates. Let the drum roll of dishonor commence...."

Senate Override Medical Pot Veto (July 2, 2005)
Although the title at this website actually reads "Overrides medical pot 'vote'" the editor of DrugWar.com is assuming the proofreader made a mistake, as the first paragraph of the article reads thusly: "The Senate voted Thursday to override the governor's veto of a bill allowing the seriously ill to use marijuana. If the House overrides the veto as well, Rhode Island would become the 11th state to permit medical marijuana use." Looks like the Senate of Rhode Island is overriding the "veto" not the "vote." This is a good thing.

'It was like watching a movie of my past' (July 1, 2005)
"Extracted from the rootbark of an African plant used in tribal rituals, ibogaine takes users on a mind-altering journey in which they face their own fears. Paul Willis reports on a radical new treatment for drug addiction."

Meth Measure Wouldn't Burden Shoppers (July 1, 2005)
"A day after Riverside County supervisors voted to crack down on methamphetamine producers, county officials said the measure as passed would not include a provision to require people who buy certain cold medicines to provide personal information to store clerks."

A candid conversation with Dr. Lester Grinspoon (July 1, 2005)
"If the prohibition were to disappear and Sativex had to compete with herbal marijuana on a level playing field, Sativex would probably suffer a fate similar to that of Marinol; some people would use it, some might even prefer it, but it would not be a major means by which people make use of the therapeutic utilities in marijuana."