Drug War Chronicle, Issue #594 -(urls + 2 editorials)- 7/17/09

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #594 -- 7/17/09
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594

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

Table of Contents:

1. FEATURE: CALIFORNIA TAX AUTHORITY SAYS LEGAL MARIJUANA COULD
GENERATE $1.4 BILLION IN TAX REVENUE A YEAR
A report from the California Board of Equalization estimating
that the state could take in $1.4 billion a year by legalizing
and taxing marijuana is only adding to the mounting pressure for
legalization in the Golden State, which is saddled with a $26
billion budget deficit.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/california_marijuana_tax_revenues_billion_dollars

2. FEATURE: COLORADO HEARING MONDAY ON PLAN TO LIMIT
DISPENSARIES EXPECTED TO DRAW LOUD OPPOSITION
Colorado's medical marijuana program is taking off, with the
number of patients, recommending physicians, and dispensaries
all on the rise. But a state agency has proposed rule changes
that could blunt the growth, endanger the new-style dispensaries
and make it more difficult for patients to obtain their
medicine. There should be fireworks at Monday's public hearing
on the proposal.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/colorado_medical_marijuana_caregiver_proposal_publ
ic_hearing

3. DRUG WAR CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW: "THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY ON
DRUGS: THE SECRET HISTORY OF GETTING HIGH IN AMERICA," BY RYAN
GRIM (2009, JOHN WILEY & SONS, 264 PP., $24.95 HB)
Ryan Grim has produced an entertaining, enlightening, and
absorbing social history of drug use in America. We have checked
it out, and we think you should too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/book_review_ryan_grim_your_country_on_drugs

4. LAW ENFORCEMENT: AT LEAST FOUR KILLED BY POLICE DOING DRUG
ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS SO FAR THIS MONTH
Shem Walker was trying to run scruffy ruffians off of his stoop.
Now, he's dead. Adam Stogner didn't want to let a deputy see
what he had in his mouth. Now, he's dead. Demarco Washington
didn't want to go back to jail on a drug charge. Now, he's dead.
And so is an unnamed man who allegedly pointed a gun at police
during a predawn drug raid.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/four_dead_in_drug_war_this_month

5. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: US HOUSE OVERTURNS BARR AMENDMENT, REMOVES
OBSTACLE TO IMPLEMENTING 1998 DC VOTE
Eleven years after DC voters overwhelmingly approved a medical
marijuana initiative, Congress is finally butting out. The House
yesterday approved the annual District appropriations bill
without the Barr amendment, which had barred the District from
implementing that vote.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/house_overturns_barr_amendment_medical_marijuana_D
C

6. HARM REDUCTION: HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE APPROVES LEGISLATION
ELIMINATING THE NEEDLE EXCHANGE FUNDING BAN
A provision of the federal code that has stymied AIDS and
Hepatitis prevention efforts in favor of the drug war may soon
be history.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/house_committee_eliminates_ban_on_needle_exchange_
funding

7. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
It's a corrupt cops twofer for New Jersey, another twofer for
Indiana, a two-for-one special on Texas deputies, and a lone
prison guard in Florida.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/police_drug_corruption

8. LATIN AMERICA: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH CALLS ON OBAMA
ADMINISTRATION TO BLOCK SOME ANTI-DRUG AID OVER HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSES
As part of the Merida Initiative to provide Mexico with more
than a billion dollars in anti-drug aid, Congress imposed human
rights conditions on Mexico. Now, Human Rights Watch is urging
the Obama administration to withhold some of that aid until
Mexico deals with human rights abuses by its military.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/human_rights_watch_mexico_military_aid

9. LATIN AMERICA: WASHINGTON, BOGOTA ON VERGE OF DEAL TO MAKE
COLOMBIAN MILITARY AIR BASE REGIONAL HUB FOR COUNTER-NARCOTICS,
MORE
America's drug war in Latin America is a bipartisan affair. The
Obama administration is negotiating with the Colombian
government to create a major anti-drug base there to replace the
one in Manta, Ecuador. Oh, and it also has nice force projection
capabilities.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/US_air_base_in_manta_colombia

10. AFGHANISTAN: THE DEA IS ON THE WAY
It's not just Marines pouring into Afghanistan this summer. As
the Obama administration shifts its emphasis from poppy
eradication to targeting traffickers, the DEA is expanding
operations there big-time.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/DEA_agents_increase_afghanistan_opium_campaign

11. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: HAWAII LEGISLATURE OVERRIDES VETO OF BILL
TO STUDY PROGRAM PROBLEMS
Hawaii's Republican Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a bill that would
have created a task force to study problems and issues with the
state's medical marijuana program. Now, the legislature has
overridden that veto.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/hawaii_medical_marijuana_veto_override

12. MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: CBS NEWS POLL HAS SUPPORT AT 41%
NATIONWIDE
Another public opinion poll shows support for marijuana
legalization approaching -- but not quite reaching -- majority
status. The reform movement has come a long way, but the numbers
suggest it still has a ways to go.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/cbs_poll_marijuana_legalization_july

13. INDIA: MOONSHINE DEATHS STIR ALCOHOL PROHIBITION DEBATE IN
GUJARAT
When 136 people died after drinking illicit alcohol in India's
Gujarat state, critics were quick to call for an end to alcohol
prohibition there. The state government isn't listening to them.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/alcohol_prohibition_deaths_in_gujarat_india_stir_d
ebate

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/594/drug_war_history

15. 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/594/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle

16. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
"Ethan Nadelmann Challenges NAACP to Oppose the Drug War," "The
Mexican Drug War is Losing Public Support," "Man Tries to
Swallow Drugs, Gets Choked to Death by Police," "Congress
Slashes Funding for Anti-Drug Propaganda," "Pablo Escobar's Pet
Hippos Are Still Alive (And Causing Big Problems)," "How to Win
a Marijuana Debate on Television," "'The Potent Smell of
Marijuana Legalization is In the Air'," "No One Takes the Drug
Czar's Office Seriously (Not Even the President)," "An Epidemic
of Botched Drug Raids in Maryland," "I Was Turned Away Again
Trying to Visit Medical Marijuana POW Will Foster in Jail Last
Night," "I Visited Imprisoned Medical Marijuana Patient Will
Foster in Jail Last Night," "New Hampshire Governor Vetoes
Medical Marijuana Bill, A Handful of Additional Votes Needed to
Override," "Big News: House Subcommittee Approves Legislation
Eliminating the Needle Exchange Funding Ban."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/blogging_at_the_speakeasy

17. 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/594/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war

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

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

1. Feature: California Tax Authority Says Legal Marijuana Could
Generate $1.4 Billion in Tax Revenue a Year
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/california_marijuana_tax_revenues_billion_dollars

California could take in nearly $1.4 billion a year in tax
revenues from legal marijuana sales, the state Board of
Equalization said in a report
(http://drugsense.org/temp/BOEXanalysis.pdf) released Wednesday.
The report was an analysis of the fiscal impact of a pending
marijuana regulation, taxation, and legalization bill, AB 390
(http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_0351-0400/ab_390_bill_20090223_introduced
.pdf),
introduced in February by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San
Francisco).

The Board of Equalization estimates are slightly higher than a
similar analysis
(http://www.canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html) by
California NORML (http://www.canorml.org). That analysis
estimated annual marijuana tax revenues at between $1.01
billion and $1.26 billion.

The Board of Equalization estimates that a $50-an-ounce fee on
marijuana sales would generate $990 million a year. The state
would also take in an additional $392 million annually in sales
tax revenues. The board did not supply an estimate of the costs
associated with implementing the bill, but said it would incur
"substantial administrative costs." It also noted that there
could be a decline in alcohol and tobacco tax revenues if a
substitution effect occurred. In other words, some smokers and
tipplers might switch to pot if it were legal.

Based on a review of the literature, the board estimated that
annual marijuana consumption in California was one million
pounds, or 16 million ounces. The board assumed that the
legalization of marijuana would cause a 50% retail price drop,
which would increase consumption by 40%, but that the imposition
of the $50-an-ounce fee would cause that later figure to drop
by 11%.

The revenue estimate comes as California grapples with a huge
fiscal crisis. The state is running a $26 billion budget
deficit, state employees are being furloughed or laid off, and
some vendors and recipients of cash payments from the state are
now being paid with IOUs.

As currently written, however, the Ammiano bill would not direct
revenues into the state's general fund. Instead, they would be
dedicated to drug prevention and rehabilitation programs.

That bill could get a hearing this fall, an Ammiano spokesman
told the Chronicle Thursday. "Right now, we are tentatively
looking at a hearing date around the end of the year," said
Quintin Mecke in Ammiano's San Francisco district office.

"It defies reason to propose closing parks and eliminating vital
services for the poor while this potential revenue is
available," Ammiano said in a statement.

That sentiment was echoed by California NORML's Dale Gieringer,
author of the report mentioned above. "With the state in dire
financial straits, it makes no sense for taxpayers to be paying
to arrest, prosecute and imprison marijuana offenders, when they
could be reaping revenues from a legally regulated market," he
said.

The report is also contributing to the ever-increasing buzz
about marijuana legalization in California. Last week, the
Marijuana Policy Project (http://www.mpp.org) unveiled a TV spot
touting the Ammiano bill. The ad, and its rejection by a handful
of TV stations in major California markets, drew renewed
national media attention to the issue, and this week, the Board
of Equalization report is drawing media like flies to honey.

"The release of the estimate has certainly caused a new round of
attention to the issue," said MPP communications director Bruce
Mirken. "The TV business channels have been especially
interested. I was just interviewed by CNBC's Power Lunch, and
Fox Business News is also very interested, as well as other
media. The interest is certainly continuing," he said.

The report only adds to the growing momentum for marijuana
legalization in the state, said Mirken. "It definitely bolsters
the case that this is a significant pot of money sitting out
there that the state is turning away right now."

The state government isn't the only California entity to express
interest in marijuana tax revenues this week. Also on Wednesday,
Los Angeles City Council members Janice Hahn, Dennis Zine, and
Bill Rosendahl introduced a motion asking city finance officials
to look into taxing medical marijuana sales in a bid to close
the city's budget gap.

Los Angeles is home to hundreds of dispensaries -- estimates
range from 400 to 700 -- doing a thriving business. Hahn argued
that taxing the dispensaries could generate significant
revenues. The motion itself alluded to a proposed tax increase
on medical marijuana dispensaries in Oakland -- proposed by the
dispensaries themselves
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/592/oakland_marijuana_dispensaries_propose_tax_increa
se)
-- which is projected to bring in $300,000 for city coffers.
Oakland has only four dispensaries.

Also on Wednesday, supporters of a proposed 2010 ballot
initative, the Tax, Regulate, and Control Cannabis Act
(http://www.taxcannabis2010.org) submitted the measure to the
attorney general's office. Spearheaded by Oaksterdam
University's Richard Lee, the measure would repeal all state and
local laws criminalizing marijuana.

Under California law, the attorney general must provide a ballot
summary before supporters can begin gathering signatures. That
is only a first step in getting the measure to voters next year.
Organizers would then have to gather 443,000 valid signatures to
get the measure on the ballot.

It is unclear at this point whether the ballot initiative
organizers are planning a serious effort to make the 2010 ballot
or if they are just laying down a place marker to keep their
options open. In any case, it is increasingly clear that the pot
is boiling over in California.

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

2. Feature: Colorado Hearing Monday on Plan to Limit
Dispensaries Expected to Draw Loud Opposition
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/594/colorado_medical_marijuana_caregiver_proposal_publ
ic_hearing

On Monday, the Colorado Board of Health will hold a key public
hearing on a controversial proposal to impose restrictions on
the state's medical marijuana providers. The board is likely to
get an angry earful from patients and providers worried that the
restrictions will effectively shutter the state's burgeoning
dispensaries and make it more difficult for patients to obtain
their medicine.

Colorado authorities tried the same thing five years ago, but a
state judge slapped them down for failing to hold any hearings.
They are also somewhat hamstrung because the measure passed as a
constitutional amendment, making any alteration of it
constitutionally suspect.

The hearing comes as participation in Colorado's medical
marijuana program has gone into overdrive. The number of
registered patients is rapidly approaching 10,000, up from only
1,700 a few years ago. The number of physicians making medical
marijuana recommendations is nearing 600. The number of
dispensaries in the state has undergone a jump in recent months,
and is now approaching 40.

If approved, the draft proposal
(http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/op/bh/hearingnotices/DeptProposal043009_andCorryAlternative0
52909.pdf)
from the Department of Public Health and Environment would put a
real crimp in the Colorado medical marijuana boom. Two
provisions of the proposal that are earning the most
denunciations from patients and providers: One would tighten the
definition of who qualifies as a licensed caregiver; the other
would limit the number of patients a caregiver can provide for
to five. There is currently no limit on the number of patients
for whom a caregiver can grow or otherwise provide.

"There are two major problems with the proposal," said Denver
attorney Warren Edson, one of the coauthors of the
voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized medical
marijuana in the state. "The biggest problem is their
redefinition to include the requirement that caregivers provide
other services. The second biggest problem is the attempt to
regulate a five patient limit."

"The proposed caregiver limit is a solution in search of a
problem," said Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER
(http://www.saferchoice.org) (Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable
Recreation), which while concentrating on recreational use, also
supports the state's existing medical marijuana program. "It
would actually create several problems for the thousands of
Coloradans whose doctors recommended they use marijuana to treat
their debilitating conditions. Imagine walking into a pharmacy
to pick up the medicine your doctor recommended, only to be
turned away because it has already helped five people," he said.

"As if such a patient limit isn't ridiculous enough, these state
bureaucrats have failed to provide even a single justification
for why it's necessary," Tvert continued. "After all, pharmacies
distribute countless medications that are potentially dangerous
and frequently abused, whereas medical marijuana dispensaries
distribute a substance less toxic and less addictive than beer."

The Department of Public Health and Environment indeed
steadfastly refused to comment on its proposals. "The
department's position will be outlined at a public hearing on
July 20," was all it would say, which is a bit odd since the
department's position is already outlined in the draft proposal
set to be slammed on Monday.

Denver attorney Robert Correy has crafted an alternate to the
department proposal (see it at the proposal link above), and is
warning the board it would be wise to adopt his and not the
department's. "My proposal would guard caregivers' anonymity,
and was prompted by the murder of caregiver Ken Gorman," he
said. "It would be much better for caregivers and patients, and
it is much more consistent with the constitution than the health
department proposal."

Adopting the health department proposal would amount to amending
the constitution, said Correy. "While the Health Board can
pretty much vote independent of what the public wants, it can't
amend the constitution through regulation, which is what this
proposal would do. The changes are radical and diametrically
opposed to the constitutional definitions of caregivers and
patients' rights," he argued.

The Monday hearing was originally set for March, but officials
rescheduled it when it became apparent that the controversial
proposals would draw a huge number of people wanting to offer
public comments on it. Now, it has been relocated to Denver
college campus conference room that can fit 500 people, but
medical marijuana supporters say that may not be enough.

One person who will be there is Jim Bent, co-owner of the
Patients Choice
(http://www.patientschoiceofcolorado.com/contact) dispensary on
South Broadway in Denver, which provides for some 300 patients.
"I'll be handing out bottled water and snacks to help people
stay there through the day so the board can see the level of
support the current approach has," he said.

"If those proposed rules went into effect, I would have to lay
off employees," said Bent, "We wouldn't be able to provide the
services we currently do," which currently include massage
therapy, music therapy, acupuncture, and nutrition classes.
"With so many patients, we can get a discount rate, but if we
were only taking care of five people, as the proposal
recommends, we couldn't afford to do that."

Patients Choice is a shining example of the wave of dispensaries
that have opened in Colorado since the Obama administration made
it clear that it was not going to sic the DEA on medical
marijuana providers operating in accord with state laws. More
than 30 dispensaries have opened this year, transforming the
face of medical marijuana in the Rocky Mountain state.

"When Obama said he would leave this alone, we had a shift from
people in the black market trying to squeeze over," said Edson.
"But now it is business people running real businesses. Thanks
to Obama and the poor state of the rest of the economy, this is
really snowballing. We added 1,200 patients and four big
dispensaries in May alone."

Patients and providers are of the opinion that if it ain't
broke, don't fix it, said Edson. "We have a system that is
working, and I think the Board of Health is going to find out
Monday that there will be a thousand people there telling them
not to approve those changes," he said.

That would be a clear sign of the importance of the existing
program for patients and providers, he said. "The board has
never had more than a dozen people at its hearings for anything,
but when they had 200 people show up for the pre-hearing earlier
this year, that was a loud signal. Now, they've rescheduled in a
room that holds 500, and that isn't going to be enough. They are
supposed to go by public opinion, and public opinion will be
incredibly lopsided telling them not to adopt these changes,"
Edson warned.

If, in the face of the expected near universal condemnation of
the proposal, the Health Board members adopt it, Robert Correy
will be waiting for them. "I will be ready to serve them with
the lawsuit in person right after the vote," he vowed. "We'll be
in court Tuesday morning before the same judge who slapped them
down when they tried this in 2004."

================ ...
___________________

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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