DrugWar.com News Archive
June, 2005

Rhode Island Gov. Vetoes Medical Pot Bill (June 30, 2005)
"Gov. Don Carcieri vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have made Rhode Island the 11th state to allow the medical use of marijuana. Legislators said they believed they have enough votes to override the governor."

State Guard forms anti-terrorism intelligence unit (June 27, 2005)
"Three decades after aggressive military spying on Americans created a national furor, California's National Guard has quietly set up a special intelligence unit that has been given 'broad authority' to monitor, analyze and distribute information on potential terrorist threats, the Mercury News has learned."

Tribunal on Iraq Findings (June 27, 2005)
"The Jury defined this war as one of the most unjust in history: 'The Bush and Blair administrations blatantly ignored the massive opposition to the war expressed by millions of people around the world. They embarked upon one of the most unjust, immoral, and cowardly wars in history. The Anglo-American occupation of Iraq of the last 27 months has led to the destruction and devastation of the Iraqi state and society. Law and order have broken down completely, resulting in a pervasive lack of human security; the physical infrastructure is in shambles; the health care delivery system is a mess; the education system has ceased to function; there is massive environmental and ecological devastation; and, the cultural and archeological heritage of the Iraqi people has been desecrated.'"

Pot-based spray may alter debate (June 27, 2005)
"Beginning this week, multiple sclerosis patients with constant tingling pain can get a doctor's prescription for a new drug, Sativex, derived from the marijuana plant. The under-the-tongue spray, approved only in Canada, is one of several emerging alternatives to smoking pot for medical relief. The new pharmaceuticals, some of which may not enter the U.S. market for years, may alter the public debate about medical marijuana."

FBI & 9/11 By Sibel Edmonds (June 23, 2005)
Why has the US Department of Justice placed a gag order on Sibel Edmonds and why won't they let her tell all the details she obviously knows? Because of "national security" reasons of course. It has nothing to do with the fact it may very well prove complicity on the part of US business partners and perhaps even US individuals too in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on NYC and the Pentagon. Anything she does manage to say publicly should be paid close attention to. She knows a lot that the US government does not want the public to know as well.

The Thing We Don't Talk About (June 23, 2005)
"The Cold War ended more than ten years ago, but we still need war, and we need that 'permanent crisis' to continue the cycle of military self-justification. If a legitimate war is not available, we will create one because we have to. We have our new 'permanent crisis,' which we call the War on Terror, another turn of the cycle created by an attack that our foreign policy and war-justifications of the last 50 years made almost inevitable."

Pain Relief in the 'Land of Plenty' (June 23, 2005)
"God have mercy on you if you live in this 'Land of Plenty' and develop some form of horrific pain. You’ll end up with 'plenty' alright: plenty of unnecessary pain and suffering. The government is so obsessed with 'fighting' drugs that they’ve destroyed the ability of doctors to reduce suffering among their patients."

Arrests Follow Searches in Medical Marijuana Raids (Jan. 23, 2005)
"Federal agents executed search warrants at three medical marijuana dispensaries on Wednesday as part of a broad investigation into marijuana trafficking in San Francisco, setting off fears among medical marijuana advocates that a federal crackdown on the drug's use by sick people was beginning."

Torture Inc. Americas Brutal Prisons (June 22, 2005)
Watch this horrific BBC4 news expose of US prisons and how torture is, despite the outraged, hypocritical sputterings of US politicians upon the reports about abuses in Iraq and GITMO and Afghanistan, outrages perpetrated by US guards upon their prisoners of war. "That's not the American Way!" they cried, knowing full well that every day in prisons and jails across the US, torture of convicted and of those awaiting trial takes places as a matter of course, and no one blinks an eye.

Downing Street Is For Liars Why aren't the media screaming about the latest proofs of Bush's war scams? Don't you know? (June 22, 2005)
"This is the white-hot question right now gushing forth from many on the Left, from progressive blogs and liberal patriots and blue staters and angry anti-Bushers alike, and it is like a plea, a rallying call, an indignant stomp of deep frustration."

U.S., Mexico drug efforts blasted at conference (June 22, 2005- Free Dallas News registration required)
"The decades-old U.S. anti-drug policy has been a dismal failure and has done more to fuel violence and political uncertainty in Latin America than curb the appetite for cocaine and other drugs, critics from both sides of the border said Tuesday."

EPA Reviewing 24 Tests of Human Pesticide (June 22, 2005)
"'Nearly one-third of the studies reviewed were specifically designed to cause harm to the human test subjects or to put them at risk of harm,' the aides concluded in a 38-page report and accompanying documents provided Wednesday to The Associated Press. The report said scientists conducting the experiments 'failed to obtain informed consent (and) dismissed adverse outcomes,' adding that the tests 'lacked scientific validity.'"

The Corruption of the Jedi (June 21, 2005)
"The hidden lesson of Episode III is that the Dark Side triumphs in societies when Good adopts its methods. When those who claim to be the guardians of good against the threat of evil adopt the methods of evil, what distinguishes them from evil? How are they any different?"

Relatives of Some Troops Killed in Iraq Seek Hearings on Downing Street Memo (June 20, 2005)
"Several parents of soldiers killed in Iraq visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday to ask for congressional hearings on the Downing Street memo, which one mother called President Bush's 'Watergate.'"

Exclusive: Following Employee's Hospitalization And Insecticide Complaints, OSHA Investigates Fox News (June 20, 2005)
"Production and technical personnel at Fox News Channel were exposed to diazinon, a neurotoxin class insecticide banned by the EPA for indoor use since the year 2000, according to a complaint now under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration."

Feature: Creepshow -- A Disturbing Glimpse into DEA Mentality (June 17, 2005)
"We admit it: We don't like the US Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA. It is, after all, the lead federal government agency enforcing drug prohibition. But we always assumed that at the least the agency and its employees were sincere about their task: drastically reducing drug consumption in the United States. But an unofficial web site for former and current DEA employees to vent their frustrations provides a most illuminating and stomach-churning window into the mentality of at least some DEA employees." Remember, there is no way to verify these posters at this website really are DEA agents, currently or ever at any time. But the website is apparently put together a former federad agent, so that much is verifiable fact.

Boston and Boulder tops in marijuana use (June 17, 2005)
"Both college towns, Boston and Boulder, Colo., share another distinction: They lead the nation in marijuana use. Northwestern Iowa and southern Texas have the lowest use. For the first time, the government looked at the use of drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and various other substances, legal as well as illegal, by region rather than by state for a report Thursday."

Drug test dodgers turn to synthetics (June 17, 2005)
"Whether it’s Urine Luck or Quick Fix, workers in the oil patch are often buying real or synthetic urine in attempts to pass routine industry drug tests."

US lied to Britain over use of napalm in Iraq war (June 17, 2005)
"American officials lied to British ministers over the use of 'internationally reviled' napalm-type firebombs in Iraq....The Iraq Analysis Group, which campaigned against the war, said the US authorities only admitted the use of the weapons after the evidence from reporters had become irrefutable." Any planet where people who make weaponry that does this sort of thing to other people are respectable business folk, and people who grow and sell marijuana can be arrested on federal charges and be sentenced to years, up to life, in prison for doing so, is totally and completely insane.

Medical marijuana activist arrested after raid (June 17, 2005)
Nevada- "A prominent local medical marijuana activist was arrested on a federal warrant Wednesday night after authorities raided his Green Valley home."

States still push for medical pot (June 16, 2005)
"State lawmakers in several states are pushing ahead with medical-marijuana legislation, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling and the U.S. House of Representatives' rejection Wednesday of a bill that would protect medical-pot users from federal prosecution."

California Reins In Clinics Using Marijuana for Medical Purposes (June 16, 2005)
"It has been nine years since voters in California passed the first state law allowing sick people to use marijuana for medical purposes. The measure passed in San Francisco with 78 percent of the vote, the largest percentage in the state. But the city, where dozens of dispensaries like the Green Cross, known as pot clubs, have sprouted, is now among many struggling with the excesses of the law's success."

U.N. reports cocaine production increasing (June 14, 2005)
Well, we're certainly getting our taxdollars' worth in the Andean Region, spent to destroy all that coca and poppy production that seems to just keep right on going, even growing, if you'll excuse the pun.

2 Officers Were Drunk on Job Near Parade Route, Police Say (June 14, 2005-Free NYTimes registration required)
These two Queens-based narcotics detectives stand accused of being drunk on the job as a result of a woman civilian complaining to an NYPD lieutenant, who upon investigating decided he agreed with her, that the two anti-narcotics officers were drunk on duty, while serving and protecting the public during the recent annual Puerto Rican Day parade in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. While it's tempting to take the position that these two hypocrites get whatever is coming to them, to have the book thrown at them as it were, they first have to be found guilty by a court or administrative hearing. I wonder if they shouldn't get the same chance for redemption I feel most other addicts should get (but quite often don't) if found to be addicted or abusing drugs- the chance for treatment and a second chance at the job. But it's hard to take this position for me, because these two (still innocent until proven guilty although things aren't looking good if the NYTimes has their story straight) make their living by arresting and locking up people for buying, selling and using substances other than the hard drug known as alcohol they are now in trouble for using while on the job. How many other civilians have had to deal with these two (and who knows how many others on the NYPD too, reports of which come out from time to time) drunk cops over their long careers?

Reefer Absurdity (June 13, 2005)
Pointing out the absurdity of the war on pot, and the recent SCOTUS ruling.

Military action won't end insurgency, growing number of U.S. officers believe (June 13, 2005)
"A growing number of senior American military officers in Iraq have concluded that there is no long-term military solution to an insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,300 U.S. troops during the past two years." Sounds remarkably like the War on Some Drugs and Users, doesn't it.

'Downing Street Memo' Gets Fresh Attention (June 12, 2005)
"A simmering controversy over whether American media have ignored a secret British memo about how President Bush built his case for war with Iraq bubbled over into the White House on Tuesday."

They took his bloody chainsaw, and sent him on his way (June 8, 2005)
"Eddie Young, a 38-year-old fish-plant worker, sat next to Mr. Despres in the customs office at Calais, Maine, while the agents processed them. Mr. Young was on his way to catch a flight to Mexico with friends, but was detained when the officers noticed on his file a 20-year-old drug conviction in Ottawa. 'When he come in, they opened his bag up and they took out,' Mr. Young said in an interview. 'It looked like large bayonets to me, but they could have been a little bit longer for swords, and then two pairs of brass knuckles fastened to his bag, a chainsaw and what looked like a flak jacket.'"

Deep Throat's Crimes: Mark Felt, Constitution-shredder (June 8, 2005)
"After Mark Felt (photo left) outed himself as the legendary 'Deep Throat' in the Watergate case last week, there was a media rush to canonize the FBI’s former Number Two man, and politicians proposed he be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But in all this gush to make Felt a hero, there has been little or no mention of Felt’s prime role in COINTELPRO -- the most gigantic domestic political spying and disruption operation ever in American history, illegally conducted by the FBI. Felt, in fact, was indicted and convicted in federal court in 1980 of directing nine illegal break-ins, aimed at domestic political targets, when he was boss of the COINTELPRO operation."

Montel: Pot Decision 'Crazy' (June 8, 2005)
"A visibly frustrated Montel Williams says the Supreme Court's decision that patients can be prosecuted for using prescribed marijuana medicinally is 'crazy.' The Emmy Award-winning talk show host told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm Tuesday that he uses the drug himself 'every single evening' to fight the pain from multiple sclerosis."

Weedman has right to speak (June 8, 2005)
"Pemberton Township resident Robert Edward Forchion, a perennial New Jersey political candidate, has a message many people might not want to hear. Forchion, who prefers the moniker NJ Weedman, advocates legalizing marijuana use. We do not endorse using illegal drugs, but we do stand behind a person's right to say he does."

Supreme Court rules against medical marijuana use (June 6, 2005)
On the anniversary of D-Day, when so many lost their lives supposedly fighting for and defending freedom, right? How sad and dark a day for the US. There must be a bright side to this, but I haven't found it yet. "Federal authorities may prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug." Congress can change the laws though, so now it's up to those we vote to represent us to put the nail through the head of this stinking war- will they do so is another question.

The War to Deceive America Into War -- And the War to Cover Up the Deception (June 6, 2005)
Anyone following the War on Some Drugs and Users won't be surprised by this editorial, but it's essential reading none-the-less.

'War on drugs' not meant to be won (June 5, 2005)
"The judge asserted what can neither be denied nor acknowledged -- that public policy on drugs doesn't work. Speaking from his 15 years of experience on the bench, Scheinblum estimated 90 percent of criminal cases in Connecticut are connected in some way to the pursuit of illegal drugs, and he asserted that society would be far better off to let users of such drugs obtain them by prescription and to be charged for them according to their ability to pay. That is, the judge said, drugs are not the problem, not the cause of thievery, robbery, and violence; drug prohibition is."

Targeting Marijuana Saps Anti-Drug Effort, Critics Say (June 5, 2005)
"A new government anti-marijuana campaign has reignited a long-smoldering debate over how dangerous the most widely used illegal drug in America really is and whether it should be the central focus of the nation's war on drugs."

Milton Friedman: Legalize It! (June 3, 2005)
"A founding father of the Reagan Revolution has put his John Hancock on a pro-pot report."

LSD and the CIA (June 3, 2005)
"By 1953 a project named MK-ULTRA was authorised by the CIA to perfect mind-control drugs. One of the most controversial components of the program was Operation Midnight Climax. This involved using LSD surreptitiously on the street to gauge its effects."

Rell vetoes bill that would have equated crack and powder cocaine (June 3, 2005)
"Rell, a Republican, said the bill 'sends an inappropriate message that the enforcement of our drug laws, especially with respect to crack cocaine, is being eased.'"

Crime lab faked results in 4 cases, probe finds (June 1, 2005)
"Houston Police Department crime lab analysts fabricated findings in at least four drug cases, an independent investigator reported Tuesday, including one in which a scientist performed no tests before issuing conclusions that supported a police officer's suspicions."

Hiding the Data on Drug Trials (June 1, 2005)
"Any Americans gullible enough to believe that the drug industry can be trusted to report fully on what clinical trials it is sponsoring or what results were found must be sorely disappointed by recent developments. A government survey determined that three of the largest drug companies have effectively reneged on their pledges to list trials in a federal database. A report in yesterday's Times by Alex Berenson reveals that this intransigence also extends to a voluntary industry database. It looks as if demands from researchers and the medical profession for full access to clinical trial data will continue to be frustrated."