Drug War Chronicle, Issue #592 -(urls + 2 editorials)- 7/3/09

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #592 -- 7/3/09
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592

A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Will Foster case makes John Stossel's blog -- via Drug War
Chronicle!
http://blogs.abcnews.com/johnstossel/2009/07/10-years-later-medical-marijuana-grower-still
-being-harassed.html

Table of Contents:

1. FEATURE: US GIVES UP ON ERADICATING AFGHAN OPIUM POPPIES,
WILL TARGET TRAFFICKERS INSTEAD
Faced with a growing Taliban insurgency fueled by opium and
heroin profits and inflamed by the destruction of farmers'
fields, the US last weekend announced a dramatic shift in its
Afghan anti-drug strategy. The US will abandon what has been a
pillar of its anti-drug strategy worldwide: eradication.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/afghanistan_US_stops_opium_poppy_eradication

2. FEATURE: MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION LEGISLATION IN THE WORKS IN
PORTUGAL
Portugal has been getting good press over its decriminalization
approach to drug use, including from unexpected places like the
UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Now, some Portuguese lawmakers are
ready to take the next step. A bill to legalize the possession,
cultivation, and sale of marijuana is being prepared.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/portugal_marijuana_legalization_bill

3. DRUG WAR CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW: "SEEDS OF TERROR: HOW HEROIN
IS BANKROLLING THE TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA," BY GRETCHEN PETERS
(2009, THOMAS DUNNE PRESS, 300 PP., $25.95 HB)
With US and NATO policies for dealing with the Afghan poppy
group undergoing quite radical shifts -- giving up on
eradication, treating traffickers as terrorists -- Gretchen
Peters' expose of the links between the traffic in prohibited
drugs and the Taliban and Al Qaeda couldn't be more timely or
more informative.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/book_review_gretchen_peters_seeds_of_terror

4. 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/592/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle

5. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
It's been a relatively quiet week on the corrupt cops front,
with just two stories, but one of them is a real doozy.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/police_drug_corruption

6. THE BORDER: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION COULD DEPLOY UP TO 1,500
NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS IN BID TO INCREASE ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS
Here comes the National Guard! The Obama administration is
planning to send 1,500 National Guard troops to the Mexican
border to support drug war law enforcement there.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/obama_national_guard_mexico_border

7. LATIN AMERICA: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DECLINES TO RESTORE
BOLIVIAN TRADE PREFERENCES, CITES GOVERNMENT'S ACCEPTANCE OF
COCA PRODUCTION
Relations between Bolivia and the US just got a little rockier
as the Obama administration declined to restore trade
preferences, citing Bolivia's "encouragement" of coca
cultivation, and Bolivian President Morales responded with hard
words.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/obama_bolivia_trade_preferences_coca

8. MARIJUANA: RHODE ISLAND SENATE OKAYS COMMISSION TO EXPLORE
MARIJUANA PROHIBITION, LEGALIZATION, AND DECRIMINALIZATION
Thanks to last minute action by the state Senate, Rhode Island
will create a commission to explore all aspects of marijuana
prohibition, decriminalization, and legalization. It will issue
a report seven months from now. And Gov. Carcieri can't veto it.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/rhode_island_marijuana_commission_legalization_pro
hibition

9. INDUSTRIAL HEMP: BILL PASSES OREGON LEGISLATURE, HEADS FOR
GOVERNOR'S DESK
"It's about rope, not dope" was the message as the Oregon House
passed a bill allowing for industrial hemp production. It
already passed the Senate, and the governor is expected to sign
it, but it passed by veto-proof majorities if he doesn't. Still,
the federal prohibition on hemp production in the US remains an
enormous obstacle.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/oregon_hemp_bill_passes_legislature

10. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: USERS, GROWERS CAN SUE OVER POLICE RAIDS,
CALIFORNIA APPEALS COURT RULES
Cops who confiscate legally permitted marijuana or plants from
patients and growers in California could pay out the nose for
their violations of the constitution, a California appeals court
has ruled in the first decision of its kind. That just might
rein in some of those renegade, recalcitrant departments who
want to ignore a law they don't like.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/medical_marijuana_patients_growers_can_sue_law_enf
orcement

11. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: OAKLAND DISPENSARY TAX IN HANDS OF VOTERS
Voters in Oakland will decide whether to impose a whopping 1500%
tax increase on dispensaries, and it's not an attack on them. In
fact, it was the dispensaries' own idea. Talk about your good
citizens.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/oakland_marijuana_dispensaries_propose_tax_increas
e

12. ALERT: MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEFENDANT BRYAN EPIS WANTS YOU TO
TAKE POLITICAL ACTION
Bryan Epis was the first medical marijuana provider to be
prosecuted by the federal government, and he is one of dozens of
people whose fate is still caught up in the federal system
despite recent policy shifts by the Obama administration. Bryan
is asking all of us to take action to help those who have risked
much to help patients.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/bryan_epis_action_alert

13. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
"Innocent Teenage Girls Forced to 'Jump Up and Down' During
Marijuana Search," "Can You Name One Good Thing About the War on
Marijuana?," "Opponents of Marijuana Legalization Will Say
Anything," "A Surprise Encounter with Former Drug Czar John
Walters," "Obama Seeks Volunteer Drug War Soldiers," "An Awesome
Marijuana Debate on the McLaughlin Group," "US Admits Failure,
Calls Off Opium Eradication in Afghanistan," "Boring Drug War
Reporting from the Mainstream Press," "Marijuana Expo Draws
20,000 to LA Convention Center," "I Went to Visit Will Foster in
Jail a Couple of Nights Ago."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/blogging_at_the_speakeasy

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/592/drug_war_history

15. PLEASE: DON'T SHOOT!
The killing of Tarika Wilson, an unarmed mother holding her
child, and the maiming of that child, is an inevitable
consequences of the overuse of SWAT teams and the growing
paramilitarization of the drug war.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/please_dont_shoot

16. STUDENTS: INTERN AT STOPTHEDRUGWAR.ORG (DRCNET) AND HELP
STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester
fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war

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

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

1. Feature: US Gives Up on Eradicating Afghan Opium Poppies,
Will Target Traffickers Instead
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/afghanistan_US_stops_opium_poppy_eradication

Thousands of US Marines poured into Afghanistan's southern
Helmand province this week to take the battle against the
Taliban to the foe's stronghold. But in a startling departure
from decades of US anti-drug policy, eradicating Helmand's
massive opium poppy crop will not be part of their larger
mission.

US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke told
members of the G-8 group of industrialized nations Saturday that
attempting to quash the opium and heroin trade through
eradication was counterproductive and bad policy. Instead, the
US would concentrate on alternative development, security, and
targeting drug labs and traffickers.

"Eradication is a waste of money," Holbrooke told the Associated
Press
(http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-drugs28-2009jun28,0,7732272.st
ory)
during a break in the G-8 foreign ministers meeting on
Afghanistan. "The Western policies against the opium crop, the
poppy crop, have been a failure. It might destroy some acreage,
but it didn't reduce the amount of money the Taliban got by one
dollar. It just helped the Taliban, so we're going to phase out
eradication," he said.

"The farmers are not our enemy; they're just growing a crop to
make a living. It's the drug system," Holbrooke continued. "So
the US policy was driving people into the hands of the Taliban."

The Taliban insurgents are estimated to earn tens or even
hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the opium and heroin
trade, which generates multiple streams of income for them.
Taliban commanders tax poppy farmers in areas under their
control, provide security for drug convoys, and sell opium and
heroin through smuggling networks that reach around the globe.

As late as last year, US policymakers supported intensifying
eradication efforts, with some even arguing for the aerial
spraying of herbicides, as has been done with limited success,
but severe political and environmental consequences in Colombia.
That notion was opposed by the Afghan government of President
Hamid Karzai, as well as by the US's NATO partners, particularly
Britain, which supports expanded manual eradication of the poppy
fields.

On Sunday, Afghan counternarcotics minister General Khodaidad
disputed Holbrooke's claims that eradication was a failure,
telling the Canadian Press
(http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jiRfkShWULmii0as2iQ2u4N24Wmw
)
that Afghanistan had achieved "lots of success" with its
anti-drug strategy, which relies heavily on manual eradication
of poppy fields. Still, he said he was open to the new American
strategy. "Whatever program or strategy would be to the benefit
of Afghanistan, we welcome it," Khodaidad said. "We are happy
with our policy... so I'm not seeing any pause or what do you
call it, deficiency, in our strategy. Our strategy's perfect.
Our strategy's good."

Britain and US are at odds over opium field eradication plans.
According to the London newspaper The Independent
(http://www.independent.ie/world-news/britain-and-us-at-odds-over-opium-field-eradication-
plan-1795486.html),
British officials said Sunday they would continue to fund manual
eradication in areas under their control. Those officials
downplayed any dispute, however, saying details remained to be
worked out.

But eradication has met with extremely limited success.
According to the UN Office on Crime and Drugs, eradication
peaked in 2003, while the Taliban were in retreat, with more
than 51,000 acres destroyed. By 2007, that figure had declined
to 47,000 acres, and last year, it was a measly 13,500 acres.
Similarly, a survey of villages that had participated in
eradication last year found that nearly half of them were
growing poppy again this year.

The shift in US policy drew praise from observers across the
ideological spectrum. It also aroused speculation that it could
be emulated elsewhere, particularly in Latin America.

"The new counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan which scales
down eradication and emphasizes rural development and
interdiction is exactly right," said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a
drugs, development, and security expert with the Brookings
Institution. "Under the prevailing conditions in Afghanistan,
eradication has been not only ineffective; it has been
counterproductive because it strengthens the bond between the
rural population dependent on the illicit economy and the
Taliban. Backing away from counterproductive eradication is not
only a right analysis, it is also a courageous break on the part
of the Obama administration with decades of failed
counternarcotics strategy worldwide that centers on premature
and unsustainable eradication," she added.

"This is clearly a positive, pragmatic step," said Ethan
Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance
(http://www.drugpolicy.org). "It seems that the Obama
administration is so deeply invested in succeeding in
Afghanistan that they're actually willing to pursue a pragmatic
drug policy. This is an intelligent move," he added. "It is an
implicit recognition that you are not going to eradicate opium
production in this world so long as there is a market for it.
Given that Afghanistan is the dominant opium producer right now,
the pragmatic strategy is to figure out how to manage that
production rather than to pursue a politically destructive and
ineffective crop eradication strategy."

"This administration is finally showing some pragmatism," said
Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst for the
libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. "We are beginning to
understand that our policies are affecting the policy outcomes
we want. We didn't see this under the previous administration,
so this is definitely very promising," she added.

But it doesn't necessarily mean there is light at the end of the
tunnel, she was quick to add. "Sadly, this doesn't make me more
optimistic about our prospects," she said. "This will win us
more hearts and minds on the ground, but it also has to be
linked to fewer targeted killings, fewer airstrikes that
generate civilian casualties, or any good will is likely to be
canceled out," she said.

Similarly, Felbab-Brown cautioned that the Obama administration
must be prepared to defend the shift at home. "It is imperative
that the administration lay down the political groundwork and
inform Congress, the public, and the international community
that it is unlikely that the new policy will result in a
substantial reduction of cultivation or of the dependence on the
illegal economy any time soon since rural development is a
long-term process dependent on security," she said. "Setting the
right expectations now is necessary so that accomplishments of
the new strategy in two or three years are not interpreted as
failures since the numbers of hectares cultivated with poppy has
not dramatically decreased."

Nadelmann suggested that the new strategy is not likely to
significantly impact the drug trade. "With the alternative
measures they're proposing, such as the focus on traffickers,
there's not much reason to think it will have any significant
impact on Afghan opium and heroin exports, but it will enable
the US, NATO, and the Afghan government to pursue a more
discriminating and productive strategy, at least at the
political level," he said.

"The really potentially interesting implication of this is for
Latin America," said Nadelmann. "It makes one wonder if the
Obama administration might come to realize that the same
strategy they are pursuing for opium in Afghanistan makes sense
in Latin America for coca cultivation in the Andes."

That may be premature. With analysts predicting no decrease in
the poppy crop and little impact on the drug trade, in the
medium term, the only political selling point for the move away
from eradication will be success in defeating or significantly
weakening the Taliban insurgency. That will be a difficult task,
one whose success is by no means guaranteed.

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

2. Feature: Marijuana Legalization Legislation in the Works in
Portugal
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/portugal_marijuana_legalization_bill

Portugal has been the subject of a lot of attention lately over
its decriminalization of drug possession. Although
decriminalization has been in place for eight years now, it is
only this year that it has caught the world's attention. The
success of Portugal's approach was the subject of a piece by
Salon writer Glenn Greenwald
(http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventidX87) commissioned by the
Cato Institute that was widely read and commented on earlier
this year, and last week it earned kind words from a most
unexpected place: the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC), which could find little to complain about
(http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2009/WDR2009_2.2.pdf)
for its 2009 World Drugs Report.

But Portugal isn't resting on its laurels, and at least one
political party there is preparing to take the country's
progressive approach to drug reform to the next level. The
Leftist Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) is preparing legislation that
would legalize the possession, cultivation, and retail sales of
small amounts of marijuana, as well as providing for regulated
wholesale cultivation to supply the retail market.

The Bloc is also now actively encouraging the participation of
ENCOD (http://www.encod.org), the European Coalition for Just
and Effective Drug Policies, in developing new drug laws. The
alliance comes too late to influence the marijuana bill, but
will provide an entree for drug reformers in the process in
future drug legislation, or even revising the current marijuana
bill if it does not make in through parliament this year.

"The contacts between ENCOD and the Bloc were arranged by common
activists and members," explained ENCOD steering committee
member and Portuguese law student, journalist, and activist
Jorge Roque.

Under the draft bill, a copy of which was made available to the
Chronicle, marijuana consumers could purchase "the amount needed
for the average individual for a 30-day period," as determined
by the existing decriminalization law, or 15 grams of hashish
and 75 grams (almost three ounces) of marijuana. The average
daily dose is a half-gram of hash and 2.5 grams of pot.
Individuals would be allowed to grow up to 10 plants, and could
possess the 30-day amount as well as up to 10 plants.

The draft bill calls for licensed retail sales outlets
authorized by municipal councils. Such retail establishments
would not be allowed to sell alcohol or allow it to be consumed
on the premises, would not be allowed within 500 meters of
schools, and would not be allowed to have gambling machines. No
one under 16 would be allowed to enter, nor would people
adjudged to be mentally ill.

The draft bill prohibits advertising, but requires that
packaging for marijuana products intended for retail sale
clearly reveal the source, the amount, and a statement giving
the World Health Organization's position on the effects and
risks of consumption.

The bill also provides for the Portuguese National Institute of
Pharmacy and Medicine to license the wholesale cultivation of
marijuana to supply the retail trade. And it provides for an
excise tax on cannabis sales to be determined during the
budgetary process.

People who traffic in marijuana outside the parameters set down
in the draft would face four to 12 years in prison for serious
offenses, and up to four years for less serious offenses.
Licensed retailers or wholesalers who breach the regulations
could face imprisonment for up to three months or a fine of up
to 30 days' minimum wage.

The bill's immediate prospects are uncertain. The Leftist Bloc
is a small party, holding only eight seats in the 230-seat
parliament. But the government is controlled by left-leaning
parties, and the Bloc has a reputation as a "hip" party in the
vanguard of political change in the country.

"Honestly, at first I thought this would never pass, but with
time and after discussing this with the deputies, I am much more
optimistic," said Roque. "Of course, the Left Bloc alone cannot
get it passed, but as usual, they provoke the debate of ideas,
and then, since they are seen as an intelligent and humane
group, they can pick up support among other political parties."

While it is too late for ENCOD to influence this legislation,
the group can still play a role in the debate, said ENCOD
coordinator Joep Oomen. "ENCOD could contribute with information
on the need to make consistent moves and no half-measures, as
has been the case before with the decriminalization of
possession. Portugal should learn from the experiences in the
Netherlands. Here liberal cannabis policies that have proven
successful during more than 30 years are now in danger of being
abolished because of the pressure of Christian parties who
continue blaming these policies for problems that in fact are
caused by prohibition," he said.

Oomen was alluding to Holland's "backdoor problem," where the
sale of marijuana is tolerated, but there is no provision for
legally supplying Dutch cannabis cafes. That has led to the
growth of organized crime participation in the pot business in
Holland.

"It is quite simple," Oomen said. "When you allow people to use,
you should allow them to possess, and if you allow them to
possess, you should allow them to cultivate, produce, buy or
sell. If you only go halfway, and refuse to regulate the first
necessary element in the process (cultivation or production) you
create more problems than solutions."

For Roque, Portugal's experience with decriminalization was
critical in laying the groundwork for the legalization bill.
"Decriminalization helped us lose the taboos and break the fear
of being persecuted for drugs, and Portugal nowadays is much
more ready to move forward," said Roque.

One big remaining taboo is the UN drug conventions, but neither
Oomen nor Roque appeared to be very concerned about them.
"Portugal does not need to openly challenge the UN conventions,"
said Oomen. "As long as the new bill is aiming at regulating
cultivation of cannabis for personal use, it cannot be
considered as a violation of international conventions, which
leave it up to national authorities to deal with the status of
drug use."

Roque was a bit more combative. "The international conventions
and the Lisbon treaty don't provide solutions in these matters,
and the UN conventions were ratified by the specific will of one
country," said Roque. "When the UN conventions don't present any
solutions that are good for the national interest, only a stupid
country will follow them forever."

Now, Portugal can put the conventions and their interpretation
to the test, if its parliament so chooses.

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

...

___________________

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 -- Cacoa Powered... (at sfo 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 cacoa 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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