Drug War Chronicle, Issue #541 -(urls + editorial)- 6/27/08

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #541 -- 6/27/08
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/psmith
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director,
http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/borden

"News and Activism Supporting Sensible Reform"

Students: Intern at StoptheDrugWar.org to stop the drug war now!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war

Drug War Chronicle Seeking Cases of Informant Abuse
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/help_us_find_botched_drug_war_informant_cases

Table of Contents:

1. EDITORIAL: HOW LONG DOES AN EXPERIMENT NEED TO CONTINUE
BEFORE IT'S DECLARED A FAILURE? (E.G. DRUG PROHIBITION)
US federal drug prohibition began with the Harrison Narcotics
Act in 1914 -- close to a century ago. And yet the Taliban last
year could earn a hundred million dollars from the opium trade,
and there's not a single drug free high school in our country.
When will the failed and not very noble experiment be ended, so
we can start to clean up the mess it's left for us?
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/drug_prohibition_is_a_failed_experiment

2. FEATURE: FUTURE DOCTORS SUPPORT MEDICAL MARIJUANA
The AMA's med student branch, the Medical Student Section,
unanimously passed a resolution supporting medical marijuana at
the AMA national convention earlier this month. With the other
large national med student group, the American Medical Student
Association, already supporting it, it looks like therapeutic
cannabis has a future in US medicine.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/ama_medical_student_section_supports_medical_marij
uana

3. FEATURE: NEW JERSEY STATE ASSEMBLY PASSES BILL REFORMING
STATE'S "DRUG-FREE SCHOOL ZONE" LAW
In a bid to defeat the iconic dope-dealer lurking in the
schoolyard shadows, New Jersey was one of many states to pass a
"drug-free school zone" law. Now, the state Assembly has passed
a bill that will be the first step in undoing it.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/new_jersey_assembly_passes_drug_free_school_zone_b
ill

4. STUDENTS: INTERN AT DRCNET AND HELP STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and
you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war

5. HELP NEEDED: DRUG WAR CHRONICLE SEEKING CASES OF INFORMANT
ABUSE
Drug War Chronicle is seeking information on serious police
misconduct or misjudgments in the treatment of informants.
Confidentiality will be protected.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/help_us_find_botched_drug_war_informant_cases

6. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
An Ohio jailer, a Connecticut cop, and a pair of Florida
deputies get busted, a Louisiana cop goes on trial, a Texas
constable cops a plea, and so does a Texas US Border Patrol
Agent.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/police_drug_corruption

7. MARIJUANA: MENDOCINO COUNTY MOVE TO RESTRICT GROWS PASSES,
BARELY
Two weeks ago, we reported on the battle over Mendocino County's
Measure G, which would rein in the county's liberal cultivation
laws. Now the results are in: G won in a squeaker.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/mendocino_marijuana_measure_g_passes

8. MARIJUANA: PUERTO RICO EX-OFFICIALS SAY LEGALIZE IT
Some well-known Puerto Ricans are calling for the legalization,
taxation, and regulate sale of marijuana in a bid to reduce the
prison population and keep kids away from unsavory elements.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/puerto_rico_ex_officials_say_legalize_marijuana

9. EUROPE: HASHISH GROWERS FIGHT POLICE IN "GREECE'S COLOMBIA"
Hashish growers on the Greek island of Crete ambushed police on
Sunday. They also did it last fall. Once again, a manhunt is
underway. And once again, the Greek media is talking about
"Greece's Colombia."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/greece_crete_hashish_farmers_ambush_police

10. LATIN AMERICA: BOLIVIA'S CHAPARE COCA GROWERS TELL USAID TO
GET LOST, SAY THEY WILL SEEK FUNDING FROM VENEZUELA
Coca grower unions in Bolivia's Chapare region have told USAID
to get lost. They'll seek assistance from Venezuela's Hugo
Chavez instead, they said.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/bolivia_chapare_coca_growers_reject_USAID_venezuel
a

11. SOUTHWEST ASIA: WEST THREATENS TO BLOCK IRAN DRUG AID OVER
NUCLEAR ISSUE
The US and European Union are threatening to stop helping Iran
fight to stem the tide of Afghan opium and heroin -- heroin
destined not only for the Islamic republics but also for the
veins of users in places like Berlin and London. It's part of
the high-wire pressure act aimed at stopping Iran's nuclear
program.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/west_threatens_iran_drug_aid_over_nuclear_program

12. SOUTHWEST ASIA: TALIBAN MAKES $100 MILLION A YEAR OFF DRUG
PROHIBITION
The Taliban is profiting from prohibition. The Islamic
insurgents made $100 million last year taxing poppy farmers,
UNODC head Antonio Maria Costa said this week.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/taliban_earns_100_million_dollars_in_opium_profits

13. DEATH PENALTY: MORE EXECUTIONS, MORE DEATH SENTENCES, A
GLIMMER OF HOPE IN VIETNAM
China celebrates Anti-Drug Day with more executions and death
sentences, but there have been more of both elsewhere this
month, too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/death_penalty_drugs

14. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/drug_war_history

15. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
"Nation's Mayors Take a Stand for Harm Reduction," "And the
Winner of the War on Meth is... Cocaine," "Our Drug War
Alliances in South America Are Crumbling," "Trained Pigeons That
Smuggle Drugs and Cell Phones Into Prison," "They're Drug
Testing Our Sewage," "Don Imus: Critic of Racial Profiling?,"
"George Will's Weak Defense of Our Embarrassing Incarceration
Rates," "Rising Coca Cultivation In Colombia Is Driving the UN
Drug Czar Crazy."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/blogging_at_the_speakeasy

16. FEEDBACK: DO YOU READ DRUG WAR CHRONICLE?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to
evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to
funders. We need donations too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle

17. WEBMASTERS: HELP THE MOVEMENT BY RUNNING DRCNET SYNDICATION
FEEDS ON YOUR WEB SITE!
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War
Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_now_availabl
e

18. RESOURCE: DRCNET WEB SITE OFFERS WIDE ARRAY OF RSS FEEDS FOR
YOUR READER
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War
Chronicle and more -- is now available.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available

19. RESOURCE: REFORMER'S CALENDAR ACCESSIBLE THROUGH DRCNET WEB
SITE
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to
the events coming up the soonest, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/drug_reform_calendar

(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up
today!)

===============

1. Editorial: How Long Does an Experiment Need to Continue
Before It's Declared a Failure? (e.g. Drug Prohibition)
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/drug_prohibition_is_a_failed_experiment

David Borden, Executive Director,
http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/borden

How long does an experiment need to continue before it's
declared a failure?

For alcohol prohibition, our US version, it was about 13 years.
Between mafia crime, poisonings from adulterated beverages, and
the dropping age at which people were becoming alcoholics
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/049/editorial.shtml),
Americans decided that the "Noble Experiment" -- whether it
should actually be regarded as noble or not -- was a bad idea.
And they ended it. New York State did its part 75 years ago
today, ratifying the 21st amendment to repeal the 18th
amendment, bringing the Constitution one state closer to being
restored (http://www.nysun.com/editorials/lift-a-glass/80751/).
It took another half a year, until December 5th, to get the 36
states on the board that were needed at the time to get the job
done. But Americans of the '30s recognized the failure of the
prohibition experiment, and they took action by enacting
legalization of alcohol.

Industrialist John D. Rockefeller described the evolution of his
thinking that led to the recognition of prohibition's failure,
in a famous 1932 letter
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States):

"When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be
widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come
when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have
slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been
the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the
speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers
has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored
Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and
crime has increased to a level never seen before."

In the context of today's leading prohibition -- the drug war --
it's important to realize that those other drugs were made
illegal even before alcohol was. It was December 17th, 1914,
when the Harrison Narcotics Act passed the US Congress --
ostensibly a regulatory law to synchronize America's system with
a new one being adopted by countries around the world. But law
enforcement interpreted it as prohibiting drugs -- coca and
opium, and derivatives of them such as heroin and cocaine, were
the ones in question then -- and law enforcement got its way.

Which means that drugs have been illegal for almost a century.
And yet despite a century of prohibition -- a century of
fighting opium -- the Taliban could somehow make a hundred
million off of it last year, that's how much of it is still
being used. Our addiction rate in the US is higher today than it
is believed to have been at the turn of the 20th century
(http://www.csdp.org/publicservice/zogby07foot.htm), and while
other things that have certainly changed that could affect drug
use, if you're fighting a "drug war" to end drug use, if
addiction goes in completely the opposite direction, then you
have a problem. A recent example of things going in the
completely opposite direction as intended is cocaine prices on
the streets of our cities, which according to DEA data is about
a fifth of what it was in 1980 when adjusting for inflation and
purity
(http://jec.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_idm3a257d-b06a-4339-a
a2d-cd55d61693e3).
The goal of the eradication-interdiction-arrest-incarceration
strategy is to raise prices, in order to discourage use. Oh, and
the drugs have gotten worse too -- who had ever heard of crack
cocaine before 1986 -- 72 years after passage of the Harrison
Act?

Marijuana prohibition, enacted in 1937, is an even less
successful experiment than opiate and cocaine prohibition. For
the harder drugs one might say at least that some young people
have trouble getting them, although that's really just the kids
who aren't into drugs. But marijuana can be purchased by
virtually any high school student in the country, at virtually
any high school in the country, and generally from other
students. When kids are dealing drugs to other kids, and that is
happening EVERYWHERE, what is the result of the experiment? What
is its conclusion? Is further research really necessary at that
point?

No, it's not. The findings are on the drug prohibition
experiment are conclusive -- it's a failure. And while many of
the people waging the drug war believe it's noble, that belief
is misguided -- with half a million people incarcerated in US
jails and prisons for drug offenses, the prohibition experiment
is anything but noble.

The day we legalize drugs is the day we can begin to clean up
the mess that the drug prohibition experiment has created.

===============

___________________
It's time to correct the mistake:
truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>

Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
<http://www.leap.cc>

Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

later
bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

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