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Heroin
is "Good for Your Health": Occupation Forces support Afghan Narcotics Trade
(May 10, 2007)
"The occupation forces in Afghanistan are supporting the drug trade, which
brings between 120 and 194 billion dollars of revenues to organized crime, intelligence
agencies and Western financial institutions."
U.S.,
allies seen as losing drug war (May 7, 2007)
"The United States and its Latin American allies are losing a major battle
in the war on drugs, according to indicators that show cocaine prices dipped
for most of 2006 and U.S. users were getting more bang for their buck."
101-year-old
Zambian man nabbed over cannabis cultivation, trafficking (May 3, 2007)
"DEC spokesperson Rosten Chulu confirmed the arrest of Timothy Chilekwa,
a peasant farmer of Namembo village in Southern province who was born in 1906.
Chulu said the old man was nabbed for alleged unlawful cultivation of cannabis
weighing 1.2 tons. He was also found trafficking two sacks of cannabis weighing
6. 95 kg, Chulu said. The spokesperson said the 101-year-old would appear in
court soon."
Was
Timothy Leary Right? (May 3, 2007)
"Are psychedelics good for you? It's such a hippie relic of a question
that it's almost embarrassing to ask. But a quiet psychedelic renaissance is
beginning at the highest levels of American science, including the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Harvard, which is conducting what is thought
to be its first research into therapeutic uses of psychedelics (in this case,
Ecstasy) since the university fired Timothy Leary in 1963. But should we be
prying open the doors of perception again? Wasn't the whole thing a disaster
the first time? The answer to both questions is yes."
The
Farce of the War on Drugs (May 1, 2007)
"My brother Howard Wooldridge served as a decorated police officer and
detective in Lansing, Michigan for 18 years. During that time, he collared killers,
drunk drivers, child molesters, rapists, wife beaters and drug dealers. What
he learned launched him on a crusade to stop the federal government’s useless
35 year 'War on Drugs.'"
Coca
Growers Shake the Andes Once Again (April 27, 2007)
"During the last few days, coca growers, especially in Peru and Colombia,
have been in the news again, as their actions have given the media something
to talk about."
LSD as Therapy?
Write about It, Get Barred from US (April 27, 2007)
"BC psychotherapist denied entry after border guard googled his work."
No
Jail for Willie Nelson on Drug Charge (April 25, 2007)
While the editor of DrugWar.com applauds this decision by the judge, I can't
help but wonder how hard the judge would have thrown the book at me for the
exact same offense.
The
War on Salvia Divinorum Heats Up (April 14, 2007)
"Middlebury, Vermont, this week declared a public health emergency to prevent
a local business from selling it. It's already illegal in five states -- Louisiana,
Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Delaware -- and a number of towns and cities
across the country, and now politicians in at least seven other states have
filed bills to make it illegal there. For the DEA, it is a 'drug of concern.'"
Book
Offer: Lies, Damn Lies, and Drug War Statistics (April 14, 2007)
"Normally when we publish a book review in our Drug War Chronicle newsletter,
it gets readers but is not among the top stories visited on the site. Recently
we saw a big exception to that rule when more than 2,700 of you read our review
of the new book Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis
of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy."
Plant
growers served search warrant (April 11, 2007)
"Three WSU students were surprised when a plant they were growing in their
closet was mistaken for marijuana."
California
in bid to impose 7.25% sales tax on cannabis (April 10, 2007)
"For decades, smoking marijuana has been an illicit affair, a key anti-establishment
ritual for America's counter-culture underground. But the legalisation of the
drug for medicinal purposes in California has presented its advocates with a
dilemma: to remain firmly on the wrong side of the law or accept a demand to
pay taxes on its sale."
The
Other War: Democratic Candidates are Deafeningly Silent on the Drug War
(April 9, 2007)
"There is a major disconnect in the 2008 Democratic race for the White
House. While all the top candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote,
they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those
constituencies: the failed War on Drugs, a war that has morphed into a war on
people of color."
Ex-officer
likens drug war to Prohibition (April 8, 2007)
"Retired police officer Peter Christ on Tuesday compared the contemporary
war on drugs to National Prohibition of the 1920s."
Minnesota
drug laws: Are they too harsh? (April 8, 2007)
Momentum gathers for review of sentencing rules
Drug
Czar Blasted for Lack of Leadership (April 8, 2007)
"During the course of research for this series, it became apparent that
many prominent players in the war on drugs don't have many compliments for the
current drug czar, John Walters."
Is
the Drug War Nearing an End? (April 8, 2007)
"Little by little by little there is some hope that the "war" on drugs
is becoming a political issue - the first step in undoing a set of policies
that make little sense no matter how you look at them."
Law
Enforcement Group Visits Maine To Advocate For Legalization Of Drugs (April
8, 2007)
"LEAP, or Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, says it has 5,000 members,
made up mostly of retired and active law enforcement professionals. The group
tours the country speaking to various civic groups about what they call a $60
billion failed war on drugs."
Afghans
pin hopes on a new economy (April 8, 2007)
"As a competitive economy awakens in one of the world's poorest countries,
the residents of Kabul are jockeying to get ahead in a city flush with cash
from US soldiers, foreign aid workers, new investors, parliamentarians, and
drug traffickers."
Salvadoran
Murders in Guatemala (April 8, 2007)
"If the trip to Guatemala was a fiasco, Colombia was no better, Bush's
arrival in Bogotá couldn't have happened at a worse time as every moment ticked
off another scandal, some of them leading in the direction ofo President Uribe's
office, and nothing that Bush or Uribe president could say concealed the fact
that the Colombia phase of the U.S. anti-drug war was more dead than alive,
which was even more certain when it came to extraditing Colombian suspected
felons to the U.S."
Analysis:
U.S. anti-drug war in Afghanistan (April 8, 2007)
"In a bluntly worded letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, the lawmakers said inter-agency rivalry and U.S.
policy failures in Afghanistan risked allowing it to slide back into chaos."
Law
Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories (April 7, 2007)
"A Georgia fire captain gets caught peddling coke, a pair of New Haven
narcs lose their jobs, a former Mississippi police chief cops a plea, and a
former Ohio cop goes back to prison. Let's get to it...."
Methamphetamine:
Feds Make First Cold Medicine Bust Under Combat Meth Act (April 7, 2007)
"An Ontario, New York, man last Friday won the dubious distinction of being
the first person arrested under the 2005 Combat Meth Epidemic Act. According
to a DEA press release, William Fousse was arrested for purchasing cold tablets
containing more than nine grams of pseudoephedrine within a one month period."
Harm
Reduction: New Mexico Governor Signs Overdose Death Reduction Measure (April
7, 2007)
"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) Wednesday signed innovative legislation
that would protect friends or family members who seek medical attention for
drug overdose victims. The law is the first of its kind in the country."
Pot-Growing
Takes Root in the Suburbs (April 1, 2007)
"In Coldwater Creek, a middle-class housing development outside Atlanta,
the neighbors mind their own business and respect each other's privacy - ideal
conditions, it turns out, for growing marijuana in the suburbs."
Bob
Barr Flip-Flops on Pot (March 28, 2007)
"Bob Barr, who as a Georgia congressman authored a successful amendment
that blocked D.C. from implementing a medical marijuana initiative, has switched
sides and become a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project."
What
the heck is Sibel Edmonds' Case about? And why should I care? (March 28,
2007)
"Essentially, there is only one investigation – a very big one, an all-inclusive
one... But I can tell you there are a lot of people involved, a lot of ranking
officials, and a lot of illegal activities that include multi-billion-dollar
drug-smuggling operations, black-market nuclear sales to terrorists and unsavory
regimes, you name it... You can start from the AIPAC angle. You can start from
the Plame case. You can start from my case. They all end up going to the same
place, and they revolve around the same nucleus of people."
Mexican
Envoy Highly Critical of U.S. Role in Anti-Drug Effort (March 23, 2007)
"The United States has contributed 'zilch' to Mexico's efforts to combat
the nations' joint problem with criminal narcotics gangs, Mexico's new ambassador
to Washington said yesterday."
Colorado
Has Song in Its Heart, and Not Drugs on Its Mind (March 14, 2007- Free NYTimes
registration required)
"The Colorado General Assembly wants to be quite clear on this point: When
the singer-songwriter John Denver praised the joys of Colorado and sang about
'friends around the campfire, and everybody’s high,' in 1972, he was not referring
to illicit drugs. Definitely not. Don’t even think it. The high in question,
lawmakers say, is really about nature and the great outdoors — the tingly feeling
you get after a nice hike, perhaps."
U.S.
faults friends, foes in drug war (March 5, 2007)
"The United States said top anti-terror allies Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Colombia had fallen short in the war on drugs despite enhanced counter-narcotics
efforts and it criticized perennial foes Iran, North Korea and Venezuela for
not cooperating."
Cuba’s
War on Drugs (March 5, 2007)
"A review of the main results of the Cuban efforts against illegal drug
trafficking as well as prevention during 2006, shows a marked reduction in the
presence of drugs on the island, with 1.7 tons of narcotics seized, the lowest
figure of the past 11 years and almost four times less than the amount detected
in 2003."
Drug
War Corrupting Cops In Hawaii and Elsewhere (March 5, 2007)
"Claiming to be the 'world’s leading drug policy newsletter,' the Drug
War Chronicle publishes a regular online feature called, 'This Week’s Corrupt
Cops Stories.' The typical Hawaii newspaper reader probably comes across these
cops-gone-bad stories pretty rarely. But, when hundreds of reports compiled
over the past year from around the nation are read at one sitting, they add
up to a hidden cost of America’s ill-fated drug war -- widespread corruption
inside local police departments, prisons and jails."
Drug
war rips apart Mexico (March 5, 2007)
"More than 250 people were executed last year in Acapulco as the sweltering
Pacific resort became the latest battleground between rival cartels battling
for supremacy of the multibillion-dollar drug trade."
In
Guatemala, officers' killings echo dirty war (March 5, 2007)
"The two sets of brazen killings set off a vicious diplomatic conflict
between Guatemala and El Salvador — heightened by news reports suggesting that
the congressmen were indeed drug dealers — and ignited a political scandal here.
It shed light on how corrupt the National Police has become, and raised questions
about links between drug dealers and high-level police officials, as well as
whether the government can contain drug trafficking without international help."
Collision
Course: Bolivia's "Coca, Si; Cocaine, No" Policy Runs Afoul of the International
Drug Control Board and, Probably, the United States (March 1, 2007)
"A confrontation is brewing over Bolivian President Evo Morales' effort
to rationalize coca production in his country and expand markets for coca-based
products....Now, the Morales government is also pushing for expanded legal markets
for coca products and, in a joint venture with the Venezuelan government, is
preparing to begin coca product exports to that country."
Ga.
Reconsiders No - Knock Warrant Rules (March 1, 2007)
"A group of lawmakers wants to make it harder for police to use ''no-knock''
warrants in the wake of a shootout that left an elderly woman dead after plainclothes
officers stormed her home unannounced in a search for drugs."
Here
we go again (Feb. 22, 2007)
"We're happy we could help with that, Mr. Vice President, but Colombian
cocaine is still readily available in U.S. cities, so we have a difficult time
thinking we got a good deal for our $4 billion. In fact, we don't believe Americans
are getting their money's worth for any of the cash the government has thrown
into the bottomless pit of the drug war. Court dockets are packed and prisons
are overcrowded, yet illicit drugs are still readily available to anyone who
wants them."
Latin
America: Mexico Moves to Decriminalize Drug Possession -- So It Can Concentrate
on Drug Traffickers (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Legislators from Mexican President Felipe's Calderon's National Action
Party (PAN -- Partido de Accion Nacional) have introduced a bill in the Mexican
Senate that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs for
'addicts.'"
DPS
officials were told of lax lab security (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Texas Department of Public Safety officials were aware of security breaches
in the handling of their drug evidence as recently as 2006 and as far back as
at least 2003 — problems such as failure to log evidence out of storage, containers
of marijuana left open and the lack of a monitoring system for a high-security
drug vault — according to the agency's internal audits."
'Safest
city' now has drug war (Feb. 22, 2007)
"From the shopping malls and the fashionable clothes of its residents,
this could be any affluent U.S. suburb. Residents pride themselves on their
prosperity. But in recent weeks, drug-related violence has shattered the tranquillity."
Mexican
president gives soldiers pay hike as drug war intensifies (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Soldiers waging a nationwide offensive against drug traffickers will get
a pay hike of nearly 50 percent this year in a bid to insulate them from corruption,
Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced Monday."
New Federal
Study Shows Methamphetamine Use Decreased Between 2002 and 2005 (Jan. 31,
2007)
"A new analysis of data from The National Survey on Drug Use and Health
(NSDUH) shows that past-year use of methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant,
declined between 2002 and 2005 among persons age 12 or older....The study also
shows that the number of persons who used methamphetamine for the first time
in the 12 months before the survey remained stable between 2002 and 2004 but
decreased between 2004 and 2005."
Tell
Governor Spitzer to Support Rockefeller Drug Law Reform (Jan. 31, 2007)
"The Rockefeller Drug Laws require extremely harsh prison terms for the
possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Most of the people
incarcerated under these laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses,
and many of them have no prior criminal records. Today 14,139 people are locked
up for drug offenses in NY State prisons, comprising nearly 38% of the prison
population. This costs New Yorkers over half a billion dollars a year. Send
a message to Governor Spitzer now, urging him to support real reform."
Mexico
eyes Colombian experience in drug battle (Jan. 27, 2007)
"Mexico's top prosecutor on Thursday looked to Colombia's experience in
counter-narcotics and conflict for lessons to help his government battle drug
cartels whose violence has engulfed parts of the country."
Rio
gang kills seven as drug war spreads (Jan. 27, 2007)
"The mutilated bodies of seven youths, some with their heads and legs chopped
off, have been found in an abandoned car in a notorious Rio de Janeiro slum.
They appeared to be the latest victims of a long-running drug war that has made
Rio, which depends heavily on tourism, one of the most violent cities in the
world."
Drug
Policy Reform Group to Partner with State of New Mexico in Federally-Funded
Meth Prevention Education Program (Jan. 27, 2007)
"In a first for drug reform organizations, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)
New Mexico office has been designated to create a statewide methamphetamine
education and prevention program directed at high school students, thanks to
a $500,000 grant obtained by US Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) as part of a Justice
Department appropriations bill. The grant is the result of years of close collaboration
between DPA and New Mexico state and local officials dating back to the administration
of former Gov. Gary Johnson (R), a prominent voice for drug law reform."
Spot
in brain may control smoking urge (Jan. 27, 2007)
"Damage to a silver dollar-sized spot deep in the brain seems to wipe out
the urge to smoke, a surprising discovery that may shed important new light
on addiction. The research was inspired by a stroke survivor who claimed he
simply forgot his two-pack-a-day addiction - no cravings, no nicotine patches,
not even a conscious desire to quit."
Case
highlights medical-pot dilemma (Jan. 23, 2007)
"'If they didn't arrest me with 1,500, it's not likely they're going to
come back and arrest me for 50,' said Sarich, whose advocacy group, CannaCare,
says it has provided marijuana plants for 1,200 patients all over the state.
Some of his new plants, delivered by patients in Longview, Federal Way and Vancouver,
Wash., are descendants of the plants he lost."
Alleged
cartel members extradited to Texas (Jan. 23, 2007)
"A suspected Mexican drug lord whose cartel allegedly smuggled more than
4 tons of cocaine a month over the U.S. border will stand trial in Texas. Osiel
Cardenas-Guillen, the alleged kingpin of the Gulf Cartel, and three other alleged
drug lords appeared in a Houston court Monday. Mexican authorities delivered
Cardenas-Guillen and 14 other alleged Mexican drug dealers and criminals to
Houston late Friday and early Saturday, the Drug Enforcement Administration
said."
Burdened
U.S. military cuts role in drug war (Jan. 22, 2007)
"Stretched thin from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military
has sharply reduced its role in the war on drugs, leaving significant gaps in
the nation's narcotics interdiction efforts."
S.F.
area is No. 1 for regular drug use, study says (Jan. 21, 2007)
"The San Francisco metropolitan area has a higher percentage of people
who are regular drug users than any other major metropolitan area in the USA,
a study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found."
Executive Order 13420
-- Dismantling the DEA (Jan. 21, 2007)
"This is the order I will sign after delivering my inaugural address,"
says Steve Kubby, who is again running for office this time seeking the nomination
from the Libertarian Party as their Presidential candidate.
Cocaine
found on 99.9% of UK banknotes (Jan. 21, 2007)
"Pretty well every banknote in the UK shows traces of cocaine, forensic
scientists have claimed. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, 99.9
per cent of the two billion notes currently in circulation have come into contact
with Bolivian marching powder."
A Legacy
of Torture: From Cointelpro to the Patriot Act (Jan. 21, 2007)
"In today's world, the US government's use of torture and complicity in
its clients' use of it is part of the headlines on a regular basis. Yet very
few US citizens believe that methods like waterboarding, beating, and electrical
shocks could be -- and have been -- used on US citizens." But the fact
that torture is used profusely in US jails and prisons is unsurprising to those
who've been inside the US "justice" system.
Reefer
Madness (Jan. 21, 2007)
"I was never an activist until I got busted [noted Tommy Chong]. But it
’s not so much my efforts as the substance itself. Pot lives and dies on its
own reputation....Years ago, people would do booze jokes. Then they start dying
of cirrhosis of the liver and all these alcohol-related car accidents. Alcohol
started out as a fun thing and ended up as this evil thing that kills people.
Pot is the opposite...."
In the
Costly War on Drugs, Who's To Say What Is Right? (Jan. 21, 2007)
"It seems like you lack a certain enthusiasm for the war on drugs, I said.
I do lack enthusiasm for the war on drugs, he said. I asked about legalization.
He shrugged. 'Monday, Wednesday and Friday I think they should be legalized.
Tuesdays and Thursdays I think they should be illegal. I don't like drugs. I
strongly disapprove of them. The costs are great. But it's expensive to incarcerate
somebody. The costs are enormous either way. I don't know what's right.'"
Democracy
and Plan Colombia (Jan. 21, 2007)
Just what effects are the massive spraying in anti-cocaine and poppy efforts
that are one of the main tenents of Plan Colombia, not to mention all the arms
and training given to the Colombian military and governments to combat Colombian
peasents...errr, I mean, dastardly narco-terrorists? No major advancement of
democracy it appears.
Drug
mafia, CIA blamed for sacking of Afghan governor (Jan. 21, 2007)
"As The Washington Post has plainly summarized, 'corruption and alliances
formed by Washington and the Afghan government with anti-Taliban tribal chieftains,
some of whom are believed to be deeply involved in the trade, [have] undercut
the [counter-narcotics] effort.'"
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