Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story (Oct. 24, 2003)
DRCNet reports on yet another corrupt cop involved in taking drugs while armed and dangerous.

Uncle Sam's Wacky War on Drugs (Oct. 24, 2003)
"All seriousness aside, as funnyman Steve Allen often said, federal drug warriors keep embarrassing themselves by enforcing pointless, oppressive policies that merely ignite tax dollars as if with a Zippo lighter. Like every White House since Nixon's, the Bush Administration continues the collective, bipartisan hallucination that Uncle Sam's heavy hand can crush the desire of millions of Americans to alter their states of consciousness. Fortunately, some judges, states and cities have soured on the costly and cruel War on Drugs as it grinds through its 30th futile year."

University of Virginia Drug Bust Draws Complaints, Disbelief (Oct. 24, 2003)
Prohibitionist enforcers show how inept they are and ridiculous the whole War mentality is, again.

Bolivian Leader's Ouster Seen as Warning on U.S. Drug Policy (Oct. 23, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"Now Mr. Sánchez de Lozada, Washington's most stalwart ally in South America, is living in exile in the United States after being toppled last week by a popular uprising, a potentially crippling blow to Washington's anti-drug policy in the Andean region." Another repressive leader known for kowtowing to US prohibitionist insanities is now safe in the US, after being overthrown by an angry populace.

Sara's House of Healing and Exploration (Oct. 22, 2003)
Need some time away, or to detox off hard drugs, or just to relax and explore inner space? This is a highly recommended spot to do all that and more. "At Sara’s House you can enjoy some of the world’s rarest and most unique spiritual/psychotropic plants, in a tranquil rural setting less than an hour from central Amsterdam, with caring and empowering guidance from experienced psycho-explorers & natural healers, led by the world-renowned Sara Glatt. If you've always yearned to expand your consciousness the natural way but never found 'the right place' or trusted company to do it in, then this is the retreat for you."

A Long, Slow Struggle to Weed Out Corruption (Oct. 22, 2003)
"After nearly two years of negotiating, the United Nations reached agreement on an international treaty to fight corruption. The news came in an Oct. 2 press release from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna."

Remarks of General Counsel Joe Whitley to the National College of District Attorneys (Oct. 22, 2003)
"The connection between bad guys and drug smuggling and trafficking is nothing new. Drug deals classically provide funding for all kinds of other illegal activities. The connection between drugs and terrorism is undeniable. Terrorist acts are financed with drug money, the currency of terrorists. Recent estimates show the world spends close to $400 billion a year on illegal drugs."

An Open Letter to Fletcher Students: Why You Shouldn't Work for Philip Morris (Oct. 22, 2003)
"Smoking kills."

Stars May Face Jail Time (Oct. 22, 2003)
"Though federal investigators appear to be targeting a California nutrition guru for fraud and tax evasion, accusations that Victor Conte's lab produced and sold a 'designer steroid' to dozens of high-profile athletes potentially could mean jail time for the seller and buyers of such a drug." Get set for biggest dope scandal ever.

Soldiers Ripe to Resist? (Oct. 22, 2003)
"Last year, I heard a historian describe the Iraq war as Vietnam on crack cocaine. It was an apt comment. It took years, not months, before large numbers of civilians and soldiers questioned the sanity and cost of that war."

Drug lab owner's lawyers insist he'll be proved innocent They say he's victim of 'misguided and untrue' leaks (Oct. 22, 2003)
"Lawyers for the owner of a Burlingame sports nutrition laboratory connected to an international sports doping scandal and the object of a federal grand jury investigation said Tuesday their client is being victimized by leaks of "totally misguided and untrue" information."

Antiwar Activists To Revisit District (Oct. 22, 2003)
"Protesters from more than 135 cities in 38 states are expected to converge on Washington on Saturday, as busloads of antiwar demonstrators return to the capital for the first time since the fall of Baghdad in April."

Study Finds Hundreds of Thousands of Inmates Mentally Ill (Oct. 22, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The study, by Human Rights Watch, concludes that jails and prisons have become the nation's default mental health system, as more state hospitals have closed and as the country's prison system has quadrupled over the past 30 years."

Painful Rift Unnerves Doctors (Oct. 21, 2003- Free LA Times registration required)
"The clash over the use of opioids to treat patients intensifies. Where law enforcement officials see a drug pusher, many in medicine see a pioneer." This article also reports that the DEA recently doubled the fees it charges "doctors, pharmacies and drug makers" to register to prescribe medicine. Why is a police agency, the DEA, regulating medical practices? Why is it getting away with doing it?

The Man Who Knew (Oct. 21, 2003)
To anyone who has been paying attention to the lies told to justify the War on Some Drugs and Users the idea that our leaders would lie to get us into war is not surprising.

A lonely vigil (Oct. 21, 2003)
"Although his wife is gone, Jim Miller of Dover Township continues his crusade to allow the use of medical marijuana for the chronically ill."

What About the Death Toll? (Oct. 21, 2003)
If our leaders care so little about our own citizens maimed and worse in the War on Some Drugs and Users, what makes anyone think they're going to care at all about foreigners' deaths and maimings? Still, to see in this article the numbers killed by US weaponry and warring in and on Iraq is scary and disgusting.

The Iraqi Monkey Trap (Oct. 21, 2003)
"'The Bush administration has stuck its hand into a coconut called Iraq, grabbed a fistful of oil and control, and now is finding it difficult to get out. It is trapped by its power and its greed. Now it screams for help from the United Nations (which it had earlier dismissed as irrelevant and inconsequential). And all the administration would have to do is to turn loose some control, and it might be able to withdraw with dignity. But like the monkey, it places greater value on the spoils of war than on freedom for the Iraqi people, reconciliation with the world order and what might very well be the soul of our nation.'"

Let the General Preach (Oct. 21, 2003)
"I say keep Boykin, and keep him talking. Why? Because his comments are the unvarnished versions of the beliefs held by George Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, John Ashcroft, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, and others in the administration who hold extremist religiopolitical views."

Cambodian general cleared of heroin charges (Oct. 20, 2003)
"A two-star Cambodian general charged with drug trafficking in connection with a record seizure of heroin has been cleared for lack of evidence, officials said on Monday."

The other side: Abusing prescriptions (Oct. 20, 2003)
"While most people live in a world where the local pharmacists prescribe the drugs needed to make them well, others dwell in an underworld where those same drugs are bought, sold and stolen."

Rush and drugs -- conservative dilemma (Oct. 20, 2003)
"Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh has confirmed the rumors -- he's addicted to prescription pain medication. It's obvious that he has broken our nation's drug laws. Which poses an interesting dilemma for his fellow conservatives. According to Rush and other conservative drug warriors, 'Drug users ought to be convicted and sent up' as Rush himself put it."

Legal or not, pot eases decorated vet's pains (Oct. 20, 2003)
"The smell smacked me as soon as I crossed the doorway into Russell 'Sarge' Lintecum's Tempe home. It was the sweet and pungent aroma of pot. Lintecum had just finished what he terms a self-medication session. The decorated Vietnam War veteran suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has prescribed himself marijuana 'as needed.'"

Legal drug imports favored, poll says (Oct. 20, 2003)
"As drug bills soar, a solid majority of Americans say they want Congress to legalize the importation of lower-priced medicines from Canada and Europe, and would be willing to pay higher taxes to provide prescription drug benefits to senior citizens, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll."

Rush and Chong (Oct. 20, 2003)
"Within a month's time, drug war supporter and conservatives’ conservative Rush Limabugh fesses up (only after being outed by a tabloid) about his addiction to prescription pain killers and 70s pothead icon Tommy Chong (the other half of Cheech and Chong) is sentenced to nine months in prison, not for possession of the evil weed, not for distribution of the enticing white powder, but for selling 'paraphernalia.' America has definitely reached the boiling point of hypocrisy in its useless drug war."

Thailand given Non-Nato ally status (Oct. 20, 2003)
"According to a Thai government statement, Bush also asked for an update on Thailand’s controversial all-out drug war that resulted in the deaths of more than 2,200 people. The government claimed the deaths were the result of 'bad guys killing bad guys'. The US State Department has previously expressed concern over the issue of accountability following the three-month drug war that Thaksin claimed was a great success."

Public's growing concern about health care fuels support for changes (Oct. 20, 2003)
"The public's growing unease with the nation's health care system has built support for a new approach that would mean care for all Americans and changes in laws governing prescription drugs, a poll suggests."

Drug abuse cuts across all social lines (Oct. 19, 2003)
"I've been hoping that news of Rush Limbaugh's abuse of painkillers will help people see two things about drug abuse: It happens in every social stratum. And there are no good people's drugs and bad people's drugs."

Illegal use of pain patch surfaces in area (Oct. 19, 2003)
The fentanyl pain patch kills more than pain if misused, local law enforcement authorities warn.

Lock Limbaugh behind bars (Oct. 19, 2003)
"In 1994 when Kurt Cobain died of a drug-induced suicide, three days after his death, Limbaugh said, 'Kurt Cobain died of a drug-induced suicide, I just—he was a worthless shred of human debris.' Obviously Cobain could not be considered human debris based on his music, nor would any logical person call someone human debris merely because he or she is suicidal. No, Limbaugh considered Cobain human debris because Cobain was a drug addict. It is only fitting that Limbaugh himself enter that category, because if there ever was a person who deserved the label 'human debris,' it is him."

Canvassing for cocaine (Oct. 19, 2003)
"An eagle-eyed city cop, with no help from tips, crushed a Crime Stoppers fraud yesterday that was used to feed the drug habits of two men - one who used to do fundraising for the police-supported organization. 'They were raising money to buy cocaine,' city police spokesman Wes Bellmore said yesterday."

Medical pot case serves as a test (Oct. 19, 2003)
"While other Americans celebrated their freedom, marijuana user Tommy Dean Allen said, police violated his rights by arresting him after raiding his east-central Fresno house on Independence Day and confiscating his marijuana plants."

Another drug war raging (Oct. 19, 2003)
"The U.S. government has spent billions on 'The War on Drugs.' The commendable goal of this 'war' was to reduce the use and sale of 'illegal' (mostly addictive) drugs in the United States. However, another type of “War on Drugs” is taking place that is being conducted by the pharmaceutical companies and appears to be supported by the government. The Federal Drug Administration has apparently changed its purpose from assuring the quality and integrity of “legal” drugs sold in the United States to assisting pharmaceutical companies to compete against the 'illegal' drug suppliers."

Regulators, industry try to halt tide of Canadian drugs (Oct. 19, 2003)
"Drug purchasers say there's no reason for prices to be as high as they are in the United States and that the Food and Drug Administration's stance is colored by drug companies' generous political donations. State officials, meanwhile, say rising prescription drug costs may force them to cut other services."

Report: U.S. Army Unit Targeted Vietnam Civilians (Oct. 19, 2003)
US War crimes unimportant, but foreigners' warcrimes are very, very bad.

The Rush of the New Rat Pack (Oct. 19, 2003-Free NYTimes registration required)
"But this year the right seems to have finally found its place in the klieg lights. It has not only chosen to countenance (and then some) pill popping, gambling, boorish womanizing, seamy show-biz glitz and the Kennedy mythos — but it has done so at the exact moment when that Rat Pack spirit is resurgent in the culture as a whole. While the Rat Pack belonged to the 60's, too, it belonged to the early, pre-Beatles, pre-Vietnam 60's — the conservative 60's."

Carlos Mesa named to lead Bolivia (Oct. 18, 2003)
After bloody violent protests resulted in the deaths of at least 65 people, the protestors, which included thousands of poor peasants, miners, coca farmers and many more have succeeded in driving out now-former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada , who was increasingly seen as kowtowing to US interests before those of his own people, and replacing him with Vice President Carlos Mesa who has promised early elections. Some analysts are saying there is an effort underway to keep former President Sanchez de Lozada from escaping justice as former Peruvian President Fujimori managed to do a couple of years ago. This change in power is a major setback for US drug warriors in Bolivia.

Two Agencies to Fight Online Narcotics Sales (Oct. 18, 2003-Free NYTimes registration required)
"Two federal agencies, the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration, have formed a special task force to crack down on the growing tide of illicit sales of narcotics on the Internet."

Baby talk (Octc. 18, 2003)
"Our top officials warn of predators seeking to addict our children to drugs, but it’s the adult users we should be worrying about."

Snake-oil salesmen (Oct. 18, 2003)
"Why does the Bush administration seem so intent on denying medical marijuana to adults in extreme discomfort?"

Behind closed doors (Oct. 28, 2003)
"What really went on at the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Summit of New England Governors?"

No more 'Reefer Madness' (Oct. 18, 2003
"It was a small step for the Supreme Court, but one giant leap toward a sane drug policy."

Bush's grandfather was director of bank seized by government for affiliation with Nazi-funding German industrialist (Oct. 18, 2003)
This may be older news for the internet savvy, but still, when the mainstream latches on this a story like this, that in and of itself is news.

The last days of the Narco News Bulletin (Oct. 16, 2003)
"For the past three and a half years, Al Giordano has been watching the so-called war on drugs from Latin America. The well-connected drug lords, the shadowy involvement of US government officials, and the ever-present stench of murder and hypocrisy have all been fodder for the Narco News Bulletin (www.narconews.com), the online publication he started 'somewhere in a country called América.' As of this Saturday, though, Narco News will cease publication, possibly forever."

Identifying the Real Bad Guys (Oct. 16, 2003)
"Using our patchy 'Drug War' logic, Fidel Castro would be perfectly justified to not only spy on unfriendly ex-patriots, but to openly and defiantly disregard the sovereignty of the United States by flying spy planes over Little Havana, sending raiding parties to kidnap 'criminals' and 'enemies of Cuba,' be they American citizens or not."

Minister questions mayor's war on drugs (Oct. 16, 2003)
"There are no simple answers in fighting the illicit drug trade and organized crime that handles much of it, she said. 'Let's face it, the Americans declared a war on drugs a long time ago and most people have declared that war has failed,' McLellan said."

Good riddance to pot foes' bid to silence doctors (Oct. 16, 2003)
"It was a small step for the Supreme Court, but one giant leap toward a sane drug policy. I'm talking about the high court's refusal Tuesday to hear the Bush administration's appeal of a lower court ruling allowing doctors to recommend the medicinal use of marijuana to their patients."

Putting a lid on the pot issue (Oct. 16, 2003)
"Ashcroft continues to try to subvert the voters' will in California and elsewhere where medical marijuana was legalized through an initiative process. His interest in state's rights, so evident when he was a public official in Missouri, seems to have dissipated since he ascended to the top federal law enforcement job."

No Breakthrough for Medical Pot (Oct. 16, 2003)
"Despite this week's refusal by the Supreme Court to uphold gag orders against doctors who tell their patients about the benefits of marijuana, AIDS and cancer sufferers still have a long way to go before they can smoke their pot in peace."

Attorney seeks Tommy Chong's release pending appeal (Oct. 16, 2003)
"Tommy Chong may smoke weed on screen but that doesn't mean the comedian flouts the law in real life, an attorney seeking Chong's release from minimum-security prison told a federal judge Wednesday."

Heroin rampant in Mass., U.S. says (Oct. 16, 2003)
"'We spend an inordinate amount of time and resources on incarcerating people who are addicted, when we should be focusing more on the medical aspect of how to treat the user,' Pasanen said."

The American Prison Camp (Oct. 16, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"That the Pentagon should be allowed to run this prison camp in total secrecy and in utter disdain of what America stands for should be heavy on the conscience of all Americans, whether libertarian or liberal, Republican or Democrat. For this reason alone, the detainees should be brought to justice or released." Now, let's hear the outrage over those other prisoners of that other war- the War on Some Drugs and Users, held in prisons and jails for insane amounts of time not only all over the US, but all over the world.

At Least 30 in U.S. Are Suspected of Selling Iraq Arms Before War (Oct. 16, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"American officials in Baghdad have identified at least 30 businesses and individuals in the United States that investigators said they suspect sold tens of millions of dollars in military technology to Iraq before the war."

Senior Federal Prosecutors and F.B.I. Officials Fault Ashcroft Over Leak Inquiry (Oct. 16, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The officials said they feared Mr. Ashcroft could be damaged by continuing accusations that as an attorney general with a long career in Republican partisan politics, he could not credibly lead a criminal investigation that centered on the aides to a Republican president."

Adverse Events Log Pulled From FDA Website (Oct. 16, 2003)
"Or maybe manufacturers weren't wild about having their products listed as the possible cause of rashes, vomiting, rectal bleeding, death, and other unpleasantries. Either way, the FDA has removed the Website, and we're bringing it back."

Reason * Compassion * Justice: 2003 Biennial Conference (Oct. 15, 2003)
"The Drug Policy Alliance’s 2003 Biennial event is the world’s principal gathering of people who believe the war on drugs is doing more harm than good. No better opportunity exists to learn about drug policy, and to strategize and mobilize for reform."

Supreme Court's Marijuana Ruling May Impact Oregon (Oct. 15, 2003)
In 1998, voters in Oregon and Washington voted to allow patients suffering from illnesses such as cancer and HIV/AIDS to grow and smoke marijuana. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a Bush administration appeal from a lower court in San Francisco. The case involved a Bush administration policy saying physicians could lose their federal licenses if they recommend marijuana to their patients. .

Ex-Aide: Powell Misled Americans (Oct. 15, 2003)
"The person responsible for analyzing the Iraqi weapons threat for Colin Powell says the Secretary of State misinformed Americans during his speech at the U.N. last winter."

Whale Deaths Linked to Sonar (Oct. 15, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
The US Navy has been killing off wahles and other marine mammals with their sonar systems.

Fighting the War at Home (Oct. 15, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The Pentagon should nip the form-letter barrage and make sure it is not repeated, if only because it is so counterproductive. Fakery is the worst possible way to answer the public's rising demand for information about the true state of affairs in Iraq."

Edited transcript of Daniel Ellsberg talk with Dick Gordon (Oct. 15, 2003)
Ellsberg is interviewed on NPR's "The Connection," about the White House/Joseph Wilson/Valerie Plame Affair.

Mrs. Ehrlich: I Really Regret Making Britney Statement (Oct. 15, 2003)
Last Friday, Maryland's pregnant first lady, Mrs. Kendel Ehrlich, spoke at a domestic violence prevention conference at Frederick's Hood College when she told the crowd that had she the chance, she'd probably shoot Britney Spears. This is the same moralistic hypocracy that drives the War on Some Drugs and Users-"we don't like you for one reason or other so we're going to wage war upon you, or just shoot you if you don't begin to behave like we think fit."

The murder of Ashley (Oct. 14, 2003)
"DEA agents shoot innocent 14-year-old girl in the head, but deny any wrongdoing."

Supreme Court Rejects Anti-Marijuana Case (Oct. 14, 2003)
"The Supreme Court rejected an appeal that jeopardized state medical marijuana laws that allow ill patients to smoke pot if they get a doctor's recommendation."

Radio Silence (Oct. 14, 2003)
I suspect most people, even those who can't stand the guy, will see a man [Rush Limbaugh] struggling with his personal demons, and be careful about condemning him for his weakness. Liberals who believe addiction is a disease, who defend coked-up Hollywood stars in rehab -- Rob Lowe, Aaron Sorkin and a host of others -- will look hard-hearted themselves if they use a different standard for their nemesis." Except there's that one difference- not many of those "coked up Hollywood stars in rehab" were rooting for more druggies to be put in jails and prisons and worse. But Howard Kurtz does make a good point in this editorial.

Let's end the drug war (Oct. 14, 2003)
"If Rush Limbaugh – this man you and I admire so much – has actually done the things the media is so enjoying telling us about, do you want him to go to jail? No parole? Ahhhhh. Things look just a little different to you now, don't they?"

Ottawa turning pot debate into 'joke,' judge says (Oct. 14, 2003)
"Judge Keith Libby made his observation during a sentencing hearing on Friday for a 37-year-old local man convicted of growing marijuana."

Smoking Marijuana Lowers Fertility, Study Shows (Oct., 14, 2003)
So the feds are now not only telling us that teens who use marijuana are 5 times more likely to have sex, they're also telling us that men who use marijuana are least likely to get their partner pregnant because their sperm get stoned and tired before reaching the final goal of impregnating the egg. Why are they doing this? And another point to ponder: How many mother do we know who's husbands and partners were using pot and had no trouble getting them pregnant, often more than once?

Big Brother Gets Bigger (Oct. 14, 2003)
"With virtually no media coverage or public scrutiny, a major reorganization of the US domestic law enforcement intelligence apparatus is well underway and, in fact, is partially completed. The effort to create a new national intelligence collection, analysis, and sharing system has frightening implications for privacy and other civil liberties."

Sept. 11 Panel Defends Director's Impartiality (Oct. 14, 2003)
"Concerns of Victims' Relatives Over Zelikow's National Security Ties Are Dismissed."

Republican Senator: Bush Administration's Stonewalling on Patriot Act is Like "Big Black Hole" (Oct. 14, 2003)
Rep. Senator and inventor of the Warren Commission's "magic bullet theory" "compares the lack of candor from the Administration about the Patriot Act to 'a big black hole.'"

Rush, To Judgment (Oct. 13, 2003)
"Liberals, believers in tolerance and drug treatment, treat Rush with insincere sympathy. Conservatives have the nerve to blast the liberals for playing too rough, the better to rally the faithful. The big guy himself could help the dialogue if he returns to the airwaves after rehab with a more tolerant and less vitriolic message. But then he wouldn’t be Rush Limbaugh anymore."

Drug Legalization Debate Surges in Latin America (Oct. 13, 2003)
"Before The Economist assumed this position, many other organizations and personalities were already convinced that legalization could bring the only alternative for dismantling the criminal apparatus constructed by narco-trafficking."

Thailand- Odourless answer to second round of anti-drug offensive (Oct. 13, 2003)
"As the government wages the second round of its war against illegal drugs, drug-makers are fighting back with a new odourless methamphetamine pill, a suspected drug dealer told police yesterday."

Brazil police patrol river that supplies outlaws (Oct. 13, 2003)
"Control rivers in the Amazon and you control the supply chain for a drug industry thought to provide 80 percent of the world's cocaine from half a dozen laboratories in Colombia's Amazon region."

Hypocrisy Revealed (Oct. 13, 2003)
"Those with enough personal integrity, coupled with the wisdom of God, may want to reconsider their long held convictions. The others will just make excuses and lie, and the disastrous consequences of our War On Drugs will continue unabated."

Landau paints dismal portrait of state of U.S. (Oct. 13, 2003)
"'Fighting a war on terrorism is like fighting the war on drugs ... you know by the very definition, it's going to be endless,' Landau said."

In Pioneering Study, Monkey Think, Robot Do (Oct. 13, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
While this is a pretty neat advancement for science and medicine, it isn't difficult to imagine that the monkeys don't find it even the slightest bit neat at all.

A Week in the Life of Baghdad: Firefight (Oct. 13, 2003)
Take an online tour of Iraq and see what this photojournalist discovered during his visit.

Toward Death Penalty Reform (Oct. 13, 2003-Free NYTimes Registration Required)
"Even as Congress was advancing long-delayed death penalty reforms last week, the Supreme Court was moving in the opposite direction, lending tacit approval to modern-day barbarism. The justices declined to review a lower court ruling allowing a deranged prisoner to be forcibly medicated to make him sane enough to be executed."

This war on terrorism is bogus (Oct. 12, 2003)
After decades of a bogus War on Some Drugs and Users, why is anyone surprised that the feds have launched yet another bogus war?

Comic Tommy Chong reports to prison while attorneys prepare appeal (Oct. 12, 2003)
Rush Limbaugh, who called for the strongest, most vile treatment of addicts and drug users over his career, has been reported to be known by police to have been buying thousands of pain killing pills on the black market. Limbaugh says he's checking in to treatment. Tommy Chong, who was convicted by the federal government "for conspiring to sell bongs and other drug paraphernalia over the Internet" reported to prison to begin a 9 month prison stay, just part of his sentence. Where's the justice here?

Drugs ... 'old issue with a new twist' (Oct. 12, 2003)
"He summed up the drug culture decade by decade and how it coincided with the creation of the DEA in 1973. The newly formed agency had fewer than 3,000 agents at that time and now has more than 5,000. In 1973, Richard Nixon was president and, after a decade of social change dominated by mood-altering drugs in the 1960s, 'we turned the corner and the drug war followed us.'"

War Against Drug Trafficking at a Turning Point, says US Official (Oct. 12, 2003)
"The top White House official in the war against drugs says he is optimistic about fighting the global trade in illegal substances."

Legal to Oregon, illegal to federal agents (Oct. 12, 2003)
"Because the federal government does not recognize Oregon's 1998 law permitting residents to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes, DEA officials say they're simply enforcing federal laws. The raid, which marked the second time in a year DEA agents have seized marijuana cultivated in Oregon for medicinal uses, is part of a larger conflict between the Bush administration and Oregon voters."

Using Your Brain on Drugs (Oct. 12, 2003)
"The demonization of illicit drugs has resulted in a cultural naiveté that promotes irresponsible use and the black market. In Sullum’s terms, voodoo pharmacology recasts illicit substances (and their users) as the dreadful 'other,' by averring that alcohol and drugs are fundamentally different, one controllable and humane, the other corrupting and devilish. This intellectual dishonesty, spoon-fed to children, contributes to rampant social misuse of alcohol and other substances, as anyone familiar with drug use among adolescents knows."

Bolivian dies as protesters blockade capital (Oct. 12, 2003)
"Next week transport workers and coca farmers -- angry at a U.S.-backed drive to eradicate illegal crops of coca, the raw material used to make cocaine -- are expected to join the strikes."

The War on Human Rights in Colombia (Oct. 12, 2003)
"So far--thank God--no one from these organizations has been killed as a result of Uribe's statements. Death-threats against and government-initiated legal prosecution of human rights defenders have, however, increased."

Drug War, a waste of money (Oct. 12, 2003)
"Together with community leaders, an ex-marine, and police officers, Amanda Brazel, a senior majoring in communications and president of the students for a sensible drug policy needed to give back dignity in order to save the society. This weekend Brazel spoke up against drug policy and its effects on people of color."

Canada- City needs to fight drug war: mayor (Oct. 12, 2003)
"[Edmonton] Mayor Bill Smith has launched a war on drugs, imploring the average citizen to get involved in the battle."

Mexican army deserters battle over border city (Oct. 12, 2003)
"Known as the 'Zetas' or 'Z's', the new drug gang - which appears to have won control of the city - is led by former members of an elite paratroop and intelligence battalion that was posted to the border state of Tamaulipas in the 1990s to fight drug traffickers." Meanwhile, President Fox vows to continue Mexico's war on drug trade.

Duplicity at Home and Abroad (Oct. 12, 2003)
"Have the American people capitulated to the manufactured fear fabricated by Bush, Ashcroft and Ridge?" The editor of DrugWar.com continues to point out that the lies told to convince the public to support an invasion of Iraq are extremely piddly compared to the decades of lies told to convince the US public to support a WOSDU, in other words, a war on ourselves AND the rest of the world.

Frontline: Truth, War, and Consequences (Oct. 12, 2003)
Question: "How is it possible that in a democratic country like the United States of America, a vast majority of people could have been so grossly manipulated with deformed information, exaggerations or just plain lies?"

Discipline Decided In Student Inhaler Incident (Oct. 12, 2003)
This young student let his girlfriend use his Albuterol Inhalation Aerosol, as they both are prescribed the same exact medication, when she forgot to bring hers to school and had an emergency and couldn't breath. "But the school nurse said it was a violation of the district's no-tolerance drug policy, and reported Kivi to the campus police. He was suspended for three days and charged with delivering a dangerous drug. He faced expulsion and being sent to juvenile detention on juvenile drug charges."

Jury Indicts 5 Miami Police Officers (Oct. 12, 2003)
These cops shot and killed an man suspected of drug dealing, then tried to cover up their murderous crime.

A Tale of Two Fathers (Oct. 12, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"Poppy thought his old friend Dick would make a great vice president, tutoring a young president green on foreign policy and safeguarding the first Bush administration's legacy of internationalism, coalition-building and realpolitik. Instead, Good Daddy has had to watch in alarm as Bad Daddy usurped his son's presidency, heightened its conservatism and rushed America into war on the mistaken assumption that if we just acted like king of the world, everyone would bow down or run away."

Tycoons tried on the street (Oct. 12, 2003)
Steal millions of dollars you get to walk free while the trial goes on, but for many drug defendents, a long jail stay is required while the trial is ongoing.

Is Rush Limbaugh Lying About His So-Called Back Pain? (Oct. 12, 2003)
It appears from the interview here with Rush Limbaugh, undertaken way back in July 2003, that Rush himself claims that there's "nothing wrong wtih him" to cause him to play a bad game of golf, leading the suspcious folk at Buzzflash.com to doubt his back pain story.

Limbaugh Discusses Drugs (Oct. 11, 2003)
Check out what Rush said about other addicts and what should be done to them, not for them but to them.

New Bedford schools plan to offer student drug testing (Oct. 11, 2003)
"City schools plan to offer a program for parents to test their children for illegal drugs, the mayor announced Thursday, a day after federal drug officials called the city a heroin distribution center." Not only are they doing it in Massachusetts, thanks in part of Drug Czar John Walters urging, they're also doing it in Texas.

Rush to jail? (Oct. 11, 2003)
"The rule of law is a sword that cuts both ways, but if this sword whacks Rush, it will only prove that – despite his own support over the years – it shouldn't be swinging at all. What possible good could incarcerating Rush Limbaugh accomplish? Would his life, professional or personal, be better off? Would jail time help his show improve, or his newsletter get better? After 15 years of excellence, surpassing all expectations, proving himself to be the most skilled radio talent in history, it'd be hard to imagine."

Across the border, the curse of addiction (Oct. 11, 2003)
"The number of people seeking treatment for cocaine and heroin addiction has risen sharply in this border city where a fix is a bargain."

Colombia's Uribe Is a Man of Action (Oct. 11, 2003)
"This Colombian president has overseen a widespread fumigation of the narcotics fields and has expanded 'Plan Colombia' to include combatting insurgency."

Walters links drugs to terrorism (Oct. 11, 2003)
So when he going to note the ties between the US arms trade, the largest in the world, and its ties to terrorism? When will it dawn on him, and more importantly the voting taxpayers, that the WOSDU itself causes more terrorism than any drugs do?

500 pounds of illegal drugs seized (Oct. 11, 2003)
It was marijuana, and while illegal, it seems that the prohibitionist would finally wake up to the fact that this story has been told over, and over and over again, with no end in sight. How long will the taxpayers put up with this malarkey?

Red Cross Concerned Over Guantánamo Detainees (Oct. 11, 2003)
"The International Red Cross (ICRC) today said that many detainees being held by the US military in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were suffering 'a worrying deterioration' in mental health because Washington had ignored appeals to give them legal rights."

'Get out,' mayor tells drug users, pushers (Oct. 11, 2003)
When are people like this mayor going to remember Alcohol Prohibition, and the way all the associated violence was handled? Prohibition was repealed, and the slaughter ended.

Limbaugh, Telling of Pill Addiction, Plans to Be Treated (Oct. 11, 2003- Free NYTimes registration)
Limbaugh didn't feel the need for a third trip through re-hap until this story broke- leading the editor of DrugWar.com to seriously doubt his sincerety. That said, perhaps he'll come out a nicer person, decrying the stupid, evil, destructive war.

Navy Sonar Affecting Whales (Oct. 10, 2003)
Unfortunately, considering the way the US military treats its own soldiers, not to mention civilians around the world, it's no wonder they care not one whit for the other species of animals sharing the globe with us.

AAPS: Pain Doctor Held Hostage in War on Drugs (Oct. 10, 2003)
"A Virginia doctor indicted for prescribing legal pain relief approved and supervised by the Virginia board of Medicine should be released on his own recognizance, according to the attorney for a prominent national doctor's group."

Fighting the War on Drugs (Oct. 10, 2003)
"Ethan Nadelmann, drug policy reform activist and former Princeton professor, spoke to students yesterday about building a political movement to end the war on drugs while also discussing his role as an activist within the movement."

‘This Is a Dream I Have’ (Oct. 10, 2003)
"Nobel laureate Joseph Rotblat talks about how the world can rid itself of nuclear weapons and find its way to global peace." Meanwhile, "Dick" Cheney continues declaring that War is Peace, and that Iraq was supporting terror so the US just had to visit terror in the citizens of Iraq.

Charities Fight 'Real Weapons of Mass Destruction' (Oct. 10, 2003)
"While the United States continues to be the world’s number one trader, European countries have consistently made up the second largest group of global weapons sellers, especially in terms of small arms trade with developing nations."

Australia- Justice Action (Oct. 10, 2003)
"We are prisoners and ex-prisoners, lawyers, academics, victims of crime, and community members. We are volunteers who decline any funding that could compromise our work in a wide range of areas, relying instead upon your community support. We seek to provide a rigorous watchdog function overlooking the prison and criminal justice systems of New South Wales and to hold our government and politicians accountable for their duty of care."

The Three-and-a-half Years Miracle (Oct. 10, 2003)
Narco News is to suspend publishing indefinitely on October 18, 2003. "The Empire is getting nastier and more violent in its approach to the hemisphere, as can be seen most visibly in Colombia's dirty and US-imposed Civil War, and in last year's coup attempts in Venezuela. Washington and Wall Street are desperate to maintain the imposition of their prohibitionist, anti-democracy, and pro-looting positions, at any cost."

Teen Sex and Drugs- More of a Link Than You May Think (Oct. 10, 2003)
Remembering how little (well, practically none, almost) sex the I myself had in High School, and how badly I really, really, Really wanted it, had I known this interesting "fact" I'd have been smoking pot a hell of a lot earlier in my life. Is this page set up for teens or parents? Anyone in their right minds would know this is NOT a deterent for anyone hitting puberty at all. This is our taxdollars at work. On the other hand, Change the Climate has posted Drug Law reform ads around Washington D.C. pointing out that sex can be even better while using marijuana.

Ex-F.B.I. Agent Is Charged in a 1981 Gangland Killing (Oct. 10, 2003- Free NYTImes registration required)
Another tie to the Bulger/Boston FBI/Mafia collaberation.

Go easy on Rush- the Quality of Mercy (Oct. 10, 2003)
"I explained how their mutual struggles with addiction give them a shared sense of self-discipline (no one can con a fellow member of Narcotics Anonymous who's been through the same fire). The reviewer quipped: 'Apparently, being stoned together breeds camarderie.' Yuk, yuk."

Two Civilized Men Among the Barbarians (Oct. 10, 2003)
"Measured by the most minimal standards of the modern, industrial world, only two of 10 Democratic candidates for President passed civilized muster at a recent debate in New York City: Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Rev. Al Sharpton...Americans think they are guardians of civilization. In reality, they don't even live there. The proof is plain for all to see in the statistics on wealth and public service disparities, infant mortality rates and, most damning, incarceration levels that certify the U.S. as the world's gulag (25 percent of the planet's prisoners). This is barbarism writ large, since these conditions exist as the direct result of public policy, rather than as a consequence of general deprivation or factors external to the nation."

Drug War Clock (Oct. 10, 2003)
See just exactly how much we spend and how many we lock up by the minute here.

Canada- Federal government may toughen marijuana bill to appease critics (Oct. 10, 2003)
"The double-barrelled message came as the Liberals moved to fast-track legislation that would eliminate the threat of jail terms and criminal records for anyone in possession of 15 grams or less of pot."

Red Cross Criticizes Indefinite Detention in Guantánamo Bay (Oct. 10, 2003-Free NYTimes registration required)
The US-run concentration camp in Cuba, holding more than 600 prisoners, including a few children under the age of 18, is drawing more fire from civilized people.

Lessons in Civility (Oct. 10, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"But there's more going on than a simple attempt to impose a double standard. All this fuss about the rudeness of the Bush administration's critics is an attempt to preclude serious discussion of that administration's policies. For there is no way to be both honest and polite about what has happened in these past three years."

Ghettopoly board game upsets black leaders (Oct. 9, 2003)
"You got yo whole neighbourhood addicted to crack. Collect $50" Seems like these game makers have been paying attention to official US intel types' policies of working hand in glove with drug cartels like those covered by Gary Webb, and the results of those policies.

Former Van Zandt Prosecutor Looking at Fed Drug Charge (Oct. 9, 2003)
"An ex-Van Zandt County prosecutor facing a federal drug charge from a multi-vehicle wreck that uncovered illegal drugs in his possession will not face additional charges relating to 2 pounds of prescription pills." He had prescriptions for all those pills, but the packet of methamphetamines is causing him grief.

Following the drug-free lifestyle (Oct. 9, 2003)
"Area fifth- and seventh-graders heard from law enforcement, military and other community leaders Wednesday about the importance of staying drug free." It seems they're learning "Just Say No" cheers, lead by little cheerleaders.

Sales Still High For Ithaca Head Shops (Oct. 9, 2003)
Seems that loyal US citizens are laughing at the DEA's insistance that bongs...I mean, "water-pipes"...are bad.

DEA chief: Heroin traffickers bypass New York and go straight to New England (Oct. 9, 2003)
"Federal drug officials say New England's heroin demand is so strong that traffickers now go there directly, bypassing the traditional delivery route through New York City."

Let's play drug dealers (Oct. 9, 2003)
"Five children caught playing drug dealers with packets of white powder have been disciplined at school...The youngsters told teachers they had seen television programmes which showed how drugs were packaged and said they were merely playing a game."

Courtney Love in Drugs Arrest (Oct. 9, 2003)
Poor Courtney. Hasn't she had enough trouble without the prohibitionists adding to the mix?

Drug czar: Test for drugs in schools (Oct. 9, 2003)
"New England has more people ages 12 and over dependent on illegal drugs than any other region of the nation, according to Walters...But the idea of widespread testing left some local education officials uneasy."

New England governors to discuss illegal drugs (Oct. 9, 2003)
"New England governors will be talking about the region's growing heroin problem this week in Boston."

Pa. Leaders Ask FBI to Explain Bug (Oct. 9, 2003)
If Mayor Street is not a target of an investigation, it seems odd to bug his office. So...who is the FBI investigating and why? The FBI says it planted the bugs as part of a probe of public corruption.

Lawyer Says Guantanamo Detainees Tortured (Oct. 9, 2003)
"The U.S. military has tortured terrorist suspects held without charge at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, an Australian lawyer representing some of the suspects claimed Wednesday." What in the world are the leaders of the Land of the Free thinking, using "old-fashioned torture techniques to force confessions out of prisoners."

Dirty Secrets (Oct. 9, 2003)
"...few fully appreciate the scope and fury of this administration's anti-environmental agenda."

Novak Leak Column Has Familiar Sound (Oct. 9, 2003)
Novak has done it before, while playing footsy with many of the very same players serving in the Administration today.

Local Peace Group Infiltrated By Government Agent (Oct. 8, 2003)
"The infiltration by law enforcement of progressive community groups in Fresno and throughout the country has long been used to disrupt legitimate political work. This disruption occurs by sowing seeds of mistrust among members, agents often promote discord within the group, and sometimes encourage illegal or violent actions. Agent provocateurs have been know to instigate violence at demonstrations, giving the police an excuse to attack protestors."

Drug crisis grips Baghdad (Oct. 8, 2003)
"A boom in supply of hallucinogenic tablets has been coupled with the release of tens of thousands of criminals from prison before the US-led invasion to create a huge problem for the fledgling Iraqi police force." There's no word on exactly what these tablets actually are.

We Report, You Get It Wrong (Oct. 8, 2003)
"The more commercial television news you watch, the more wrong you are likely to be about key elements of the Iraq War and its aftermath, according to a major new study released in Washington on Thursday. And the more you watch the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News channel, in particular, the more likely it is that your perceptions about the war are wrong, adds the report by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA)."

West Still Failing To Protect Afghan Women (Oct. 8, 2003)
"Afghan women still face shocking patterns of rape, domestic violence, forced marriage and the routine denial of justice, with the international community failing to protect them in the two years since the Taliban regime ended, according to Amnesty International." But they're free, right?

Ruling Allows Forcible Drugging of an Inmate Before Execution (Oct. 7, 2003-Free NYTimes registration required)
Now is this insane or what?

Will Cannabis Still be Legal in Ontario? (Oct. 7, 2003)
Find out at 10AM Eastern time, Tuesday, October 7, 2003, by clicking the above link.

Just Answer the Question, Mr. Limbaugh (Oct. 7, 2003)
"Seventy years of various forms of drug prohibition and 30 or so years of a full-blown 'war on drugs' have been a failure of positively monumental proportions. We have more drugs than ever, more dangerous drugs than ever, more drug crime than ever, fuller jails than ever and more violations of the rights of innocent people than ever."

Why Isn't the Truth Out There? (Oct. 7, 2003)
"The willingness of journalists to accept the establishment's view of the events of, and after, 9/11 is truly staggering."

Cannabis 'could help epileptics' (Oct. 7, 2003)
"Further evidence has emerged that an ingredient of cannabis could help prevent epileptic seizures."

Limbaugh's Rush to Darkness (Oct. 7, 2003)
"If Limbaugh has a drug problem, he should be accorded every opportunity to receive treatment. Perhaps an extended sabbatical would help chill him out. If, however, you're interested in Limbaugh's compassionate conservative views of people dealing with drug problems and other personal issues, read some of the transcripts gathered from Limbaugh's past programs collected at Eschaton's website."

George W. Bush News Junky (Oct. 7, 2003)
Satire...or is it?

Smoke under fire (Oct. 6, 2003)
In the process of putting the court-ordered program in place, the government has alienated the doctors, ignored the expertise offered by the compassion clubs and frustrated patients, says Black...'Health Canada is doing what is necessary to appear to be fulfilling the program demands while setting up a program destined to fail,' says Black."

LSD Made Illegal Today in 1966 (Oct. 6, 2003)
In one of the more idiotic moves by prohibitionists, LSD was criminalized today in 1966, so in light of this, we at DrugWar.com link to a story of what happened to one man when set up by an undercover prohibitionist enforcer in an LSD-buying sting operation, and a history of the drug itself, in addition to the above link to Erowid's LSD page containing pictures, stories and more facts about the incredible and much maligned drug LSD.

Computer scientists fear voter fraud with touch-screen voting (Oct. 6, 2003)
"While punch-card ballots caused headaches for Florida election officials with their 'hanging' and 'pregnant' chads, 10 percent of the touch-screen machines in California don't produce paper printouts. And no printouts, the scientists say, would make a legitimate recount impossible."

Turn On, Meet God, Get Straight (Oct. 6, 2003)
"In 1962, a young junkie named Howard Lotsoff ordered iboga, a plant used in West African rituals, and tried it for extra kicks. After consuming the bitter root-bark powder, he experienced a visionary tour of his early memories. Thirty hours later, when the effects had subsided, he found that he had lost all craving for heroin, without withdrawal symptoms of any kind." Read more about this amazing root that has helped many people drastically change their drug abusing habits, not to mention get in touch with a much different reality.

Fair Game (Oct. 6, 2003)
"Seeing as how this is the case, that the barest standards and principles no longer have a place within this administration, that the national security of the United States can be sacrificed for low-rent political retribution, that George W. Bush and his people have been exposed as the rankest and bloodiest hypocrites in the history of American government, that everything is now fair game, I say let’s have at it. If politics is now nothing more than a WWF cage match, I want in." As Congressman John Conyers puts it, "Outing a CIA Operative? Rules Call for Special Counsel."

S. Jersey man faces a rare drug charge (Oct. 5, 2003)
An amazingly, incredibly, (how to put it), almost impossibly dense young man learns about drug laws. But since the Foxy Methoxy wasn't actually on the banned substances list, is he really so dumb after all, or are the feds pulling a fast one?

Nandor Tanczos: Legalise cannabis to help deal with P (Oct. 5, 2003)
"The money saved by police from not prosecuting adults for simple cannabis use could be targeted at those who manufacture and supply methamphetamines. Remember that over half of the money spent by police on drug investigation is spent on cannabis, most of that on personal-use offences."

They may be bad guys, but names are great (Oct. 5, 2003)
"Over the years, Southern Illinois has had its share of notorious criminals with catchy nicknames and aliases. Thanks to Prohibition, a small group of gangs were able to control all of the prostitution, gambling and bootleg booze throughout Southern Illinois."

Robin Cook Iraq claims (Oct. 5, 2003)
"Tony Blair privately conceded before war with Iraq started that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction that could be used within 45 minutes, former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook claimed today."

Econ lecture favors legalized narcotics (Oct. 5, 2003)
"Miron began the lecture by addressing a typical defense of prohibition — including its purportedly beneficial effects on crime, health and societal wellbeing — which he then proceeded to rebut by demonstrating that prohibition causes more harm than drugs themselves."

Nadelmann blasts U.S. war on drugs (Oct. 5, 2003)
"While much of the country is preoccupied with the war on terrorism, Ethan Nadelmann took the stage at Robertson Hall yesterday to speak out against another war that is affecting millions of Americans daily — the war on drugs."

Report Offered Bleak Outlook About Iraq Oil (Oct. 5, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The Bush administration's optimistic statements earlier this year that Iraq's oil wealth, not American taxpayers, would cover most of the cost of rebuilding Iraq were at odds with a bleaker assessment of a government task force secretly established last fall to study Iraq's oil industry, according to public records and government officials." What? You mean, the Bush administration lied about this too? Imagine that.

A Slave to Health Insurance (Oct. 5, 2003)
"They better look out on down the road," says another. "The people with money, pretty soon they'll be pushing up daisies because the people without money, they're going to have to feed their kids somehow."

Questions are Raised on Awarding of Contracts in Iraq (Oct. 5, 2003)
"Last month the Iraqi Governing Council questioned why the American occupation authority had issued a $20 million contract to buy new revolvers and Kalashnikov rifles for the Iraqi police when the United States military was confiscating tens of thousands of weapons every month from Saddam Hussein's abandoned arsenals." Now when are more American citizens, in the land of the free supposedly without risk of repercussions for speaking, going to question the absolutely wasteful spending on the WOSDU? Wasteful spending of our taxmoney is just par for the course by the US government- but heaven forbid we spend it on making lives easier and better and more peaceful.

Agent Exposed in White House Leak Ran Overseas Operations, Recruited Agents (Oct. 5, 2003)
"Plame 'ran intelligence operations overseas,' said Vincent Cannistraro, former CIA counterterrorism operations chief. Her specialty in the agency's nonproliferation center was biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and 'recruiting agents, sending them to areas where they could access information about proliferation matters, weapons of mass destruction,' Cannistraro said."

Dying For Dishonesty (Oct. 5, 2003)
"And speaking of the new corporate military, ignore all those enlisted whiners who grumble about being stacked into rooms with little or no air circulation or washing facilities while their superiors rest comfortably in one of Saddam's palaces or specially delivered mobile trailers with nice air conditioning and bottled water dispensers."

How to talk to your conservative brother-in-law (part two) (Oct. 4, 2003)
"Plus, keeping drugs illegal doesn't stop their sale. All it means is that you, the conservative entrepreneur and investor, are making ZERO profit from the deal. All the profits go to scumbags. You hate scumbags. Why let them take YOUR money? Legalise the stuff and think of all the money you'll make from a depressed society desperate to get hooked."

Challenges of drug war don't faze tough Texan (Oct. 4, 2003)
When are we going to wake up and fire all these rabid warriors who, like Tandy here, insist on making a currently bad situation worse?

Terror war aids drug fight at border (Oct. 4, 2003)
"New technology, more agents credited with record seizures."

What do you expect for $87 billion? (Oct. 4, 2003)
"National security is surely vital to life in America. But if Americans aren't willing to buy an extension to this war at a cost of $300 per citizen, perhaps they'd be willing to spend $87 billion on something else." See just what $87 billion in US taxes could be buying us instead of what the Bush administration is going to use it for.

Hacker spoils game for software firm (Oct. 4, 2003)
As an enthusiastic videogame player eagerly awaiting the release of Half Life 2, this news sucks for the editor of DrugWar.com.

Leak of Agent's Name Causes Exposure of CIA Front Firm (Oct. 4, 2003)
"The leak of a CIA operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA front company, potentially expanding the damage caused by the original disclosure, Bush administration officials said yesterday."

Courtney Love Arrested, Then Hospitalized for Overdose (Oct. 4, 2003)
Love is having a bad day.

The Elusive Iraqi Weapons (Oct. 4, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"Based on the evidence gathered so far in three months of searching, it seems clear that these programs barely existed and posed no immediate threat to the global community. To the contrary, it looks as if international inspectors succeeded in reducing or eliminating Iraq's arsenals and dedicated production capacity, forcing Saddam Hussein to lie low and wait for a new opportunity."

White House Is Told to Hand Over Records (Oct. 4, 2003- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The Justice Department has also directed the C.I.A., the State Department and the Pentagon to retain all records that might be relevant to the investigation. But only the White House is known to have been directed to turn over records."

Misuse of Pain Drug Linked to Hearing Loss (Oct. 4, 2003)
What with the recent revelations about Rush Limbaugh's massive painkiller buying habits, might this 2001 article explain his hearing troubles?

PM inflames marijuana opponents (Oct. 4, 2003)
"Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is coming under heavy criticism for some off-the-cuff remarks he made about smoking marijuana. Chrétien has always said he's never smoked pot, but on Friday he said he might consider it."

Baby born drunk; mom held (Oct. 4, 2003)
"A pregnant woman who arrived drunk at Glens Falls Hospital was charged Thursday with endangering the welfare of her baby, who was born legally intoxicated, police said."

U.S. Still Reigns As Top Global Arms Seller (Oct. 3, 2003)
But our taxes are going to fight terrorism- honest.

Health Canada's Dirty Little Secret (Oct. 3, 2003)
More information about Canada's government growing pot in the most polluted region of Canada.

Marijuana-Like Chemicals May Treat Epilepsy (Oct. 3, 2003)
"The research, which appears in the Oct. 3 issue of Science, found the substances produced by the body, called cannabinoids, may play a role in keeping excitable neurons in the brain from becoming fatally overstimulated."

No weapons found in Iraq, report says (Oct. 3, 2003)
Despite all the outcry about imminent threats from Saddam's Iraq, all the discussion about rock solid proof before the US invaded, it turns out that there wasn't any imminent threat apparently.

The Endogenous Cannabinoid System Regulates Seizure Frequency and Duration in a Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (Oct. 3, 2003)
"Several lines of evidence suggest that cannabinoid compounds are anticonvulsant. However, the anticonvulsant potential of cannabinoids and, moreover, the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system in regulating seizure activity has not been tested in an in vivo model of epilepsy that is characterized by spontaneous, recurrent seizures."

Attorney General Is Closely Linked to Inquiry Figures (Oct. 3, 2003)
"Deep political ties between top White House aides and Attorney General John Ashcroft have put him into a delicate position as the Justice Department begins a full investigation into whether administration officials illegally disclosed the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer."

Senate Panel Backs Bill to Give Tax Windfall to U.S. Companies (Oct. 3, 2003)
"The biggest beneficiaries of the legislation would be technology companies like Hewlett-Packard and Intel as well as pharmaceutical giants like Merck and Eli Lilly."

Addiction: A Brain Ailment, Not a Moral Lapse (Oct. 2, 2003-Free NYTimes registration required)
"People do not deliberately set out to become addicts. Rather, for any number of reasons — like wanting to be part of the crowd or seeking relief from intense emotional or physical pain — people may start using a substance and soon find themselves unable to stop."

Rush Limbaugh in pill probe (Oct. 2, 2003)
"Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring. The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years."

Will Electronic Voting Machines Steal the 2004 Election? (Oct. 2, 2003)
A scary as hell interview with researcher Bev Harris: "Electronic voting machines, including touch-screen voting, have been touted as the salvation of a fair voting process. Your tenacious research over the last year has shown that this idea may be the Trojan Horse of voting machine reform, allowing elections to be stolen more easily than in the past. What are the basic reasons that you argue that electronic voting machines pose a threat to democracy?"

Toxic Canadian Government Medical Marijuana (Oct. 2, 2003)
Read up on the debacle of the Canadian government's growing medical marijuana in the Flin Flan mine.

Violence Silence (Oct. 2, 2003)
"If it is honest, the new DOJ commission created by the law will suggest what we already know is necessary: that we lower incarceration rates, reduce the prisoner-to-space ratio, train huge numbers of new guards to protect prisoners, and abandon the purely retributive and incapacitative function of prisons. But there is no political will for such changes, which is perhaps why we fund studies of the obvious in the first place."

Bush Aide Accused of CIA Leak (Oct. 2, 2003)
"President George Bush's closest political adviser, Karl Rove, was yesterday at the centre of a criminal investigation into allegations that he leaked the name of a CIA agent in an attempt to suppress criticism of the administration's Iraq policy, in what is fast becoming the administration's worst scandal since coming to office." As Jeremy Scahill and Amy Goodman write in their article Does a Felon Rove the White House: "There is a scandal brewing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that if treated properly by the Department of Justice and elected officials could prove to be one of the clearest cases of documentable criminal conduct and blatant lies by an administration since Watergate and the Iran-Contra scandal."

Biggest Drug Bust in Decades (Oct. 1, 2003)
"Although the people arrested today were considered by the authorities to be low level dealer, police said they were the go-to people to buy illegal drugs."

Thai PM extends drugs war (Oct. 1, 2003)
"Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has announced a 60-day campaign to rid the kingdom of all social evils. The programme will begin on Wednesday, and aims to eradicate drug addiction, organised crime, poverty and illegal weapons."

Novak unlikely to do time, and vows not to give up source (Oct. 1, 2003)
Novak helped someone break US federal law, but by golly he's not going to give up the criminal to the authorities. Would he extend to druggies the same consideration?

Who Let Saudis Flee After 9/11? (Oct. 1, 2003)
Damn good questions raised here that have yet to be seriously addressed by most of the mainstream press and the US government.

SEC Seeking Papers From Enron Chief Ken Lay (Oct. 1, 2003)
How about a criminal investigation of Ken Lay instead? Seize his assets and make him prove the property wasn't obtained in criminal ways, as the US government's prohibitionist enforcers do to drug suspects.

Leak Accusation Stirs White House (Oct. 1, 2003)
"The White House struggled Monday to fend off pressure for an external probe into whether administration officials deliberately — and illegally — 'outed' an undercover CIA agent in retribution for her husband's criticism of President Bush's prewar claims about Iraq."

Mission Not Accomplished (Oct. 1, 2003)
"Some critics of the Administration's hard-liners pull no punches. "It reminds me of Vietnam," says retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, who headed the U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000. 'Here we have some strategic thinkers who have long wanted to invade Iraq. They saw an opportunity, and they used the imminence of the threat and the association with terrorism and the 9/11 emotions as a catalyst and justification. It's another Gulf of Tonkin.'"

Area nets drug funds-Paying Parents to Sit Through Anti-Drug Propaganda (Oct. 1, 2003)
"As part of the program, she continued, parents will be provided an incentive of $10 for each class they attend. Parents who attend all five of the weekly classes will receive a final bonus of $15, and those who take part in a three-month follow-up will receive an additional $10."

The Other Lies of George Bush (Oct. 1, 2003)
David Corn is having trouble buying in to all the lies.

U.S. 'Had No New Evidence of WMD' in Iraq (Oct. 1, 2003)
"The US launched its war with Iraq despite having no fresh intelligence evidence that the regime of Saddam Hussein was developing mass destruction weapons or forging ties with terrorists, the leaders of the House of Representatives intelligence committee have concluded."

Senator Claims Global Warming "Could be Greatest Hoax" (Oct. 1, 2003)
As the Weekly Spin newsletter put it, "Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chair James Inhofe (R-OK) firmly denied environmentalists' claims as baseless, at one point saying the concept of global warming 'could be the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,' the Times reports. The same day the Times reported on the disintegration of an ancient Arctic ice shelf."