Drug War Chronicle, Issue #606 -(urls + 2 articles)- 10/30/09

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #606 -- 10/30/09
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606

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

ALERT: Help StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) Win $50,000 in
America's Giving Challenge:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/stopthedrugwar_in_americas_giving_challenge

Table of Contents:

1. EDITORIAL: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO BUILD AN AIR-CONDITIONED
DRUG SMUGGLING TUNNEL?
Every now and then authorities discover an electrified,
air-conditioned tunnel underneath our border with Mexico or
Canada, presumably built for drug smuggling. How many such
tunnels go undiscovered? And does it take more than one
successful smuggling operation to pay for a tunnel's
construction?
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/just_another_air_conditioned_drug_smuggling_tunnel

2. FEATURE: HISTORIC HEARING ON MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION IN THE
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE
For the first time in nearly a century, the California
legislature took up marijuana legalization on this week. A
Wednesday hearing on a legalization bill previewed the battle
lines and arguments that lie ahead.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/marijuana_legalization_hearing_california_ammiano_
bill

3. DRUG WAR CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW: "DRUG WAR ZONE: FRONTLINE
DISPATCHES FROM THE STREETS OF EL PASO AND JUAREZ," BY HOWARD
CAMPBELL (2009, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS, 310 PP., $24.95 PB)
If you're interested in the border or Mexico's drug war or drug
culture or drug economy, or in drug law enforcement, we've got a
book you need to read. University of Texas-El Paso sociologist
and anthropologist Howard Campbell provides a vivid, rich, and
nuanced portrayal of drugs and the drug war in El Paso-Juarez
that couldn't be more timely.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/book_review_drug_war_zone_howard_campbell

4. ALERT: HELP STOPTHEDRUGWAR.ORG (DRCNET) WIN $50,000 IN
AMERICA'S GIVING CHALLENGE
"America's Giving Challenge" is offering prizes ranging from
$500 to $50,000 to nonprofits who get the largest number of
gifts from supporters between now and November 7. Any gift of
$10 or higher -- made through the "Causes" program, which is
linked in to Facebook -- counts equally toward the prize, and
gifts can be made up to once a day. StoptheDrugWar.org is a
contestant, and we're asking for your help by participating and
by spreading the word.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/stopthedrugwar_in_americas_giving_challenge

5. LATIN AMERICA: MEXICO DRUG WAR UPDATE
Mexico's wave of prohibition-related violence grinds on, and
Ciudad Juarez remains the epicenter.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/mexico_drug_war_update

6. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
More crooked jail guards, and a trooper who must have had a
whopper of a habit.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/police_drug_corruption

7. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: "TRUTH IN TRIALS" BILL REINTRODUCED, WOULD
ALLOW MEDICAL TESTIMONY IN FEDERAL PROSECUTIONS
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) has reintroduced the Truth in Trials Act,
which would allow medical marijuana providers prosecuted under
federal law to introduce medical evidence during their trials.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/truth_in_trials_act_introduced_medical_marijuana

8. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: NEW HAMPSHIRE VETO OVERRIDE FALLS TWO
VOTES SHORT
New Hampshire will not become the 14th medical marijuana state
-- at least, not yet. An effort to override Gov. Mark Lynch's
veto fell two votes short in the state Senate Wednesday.
Supporters vow to keep working.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/new_hampshire_medical_marijuana_veto_override_fall
s_short

9. SOUTHWEST ASIA: THREE DEA AGENTS AMONG DEAD IN AFGHAN
HELICOPTER CRASH
The DEA suffered its first spilled blood in Afghanistan Monday
when three of its agents were killed in a helicopter crash that
also took the lives of seven US soldiers. The chopper was
returning from a drug raid when it went down.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/three_DEA_agents_killed_in_afghanistan

10. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS RULES
CAREGIVERS MUST DO MORE THAN JUST GROW POT
Medical marijuana caregivers must actually know the patients for
whom they are growing pot, the Colorado Court of Appeals has
ruled. The opinion, if upheld on appeal, could put a crimp in
the state's fast-growing medical marijuana industry.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/colorado_appeals_court_medical_marijuana_caregiver
_ruling

11. SOUTHEAST ASIA: UN'S TOP HEALTH RIGHTS OFFICIALS CALLS FOR
DECRIMINALIZING DRUG USE, ENDING FORCED "REHAB CAMPS"
In an address to an international health conference in Vietnam,
the UN's top health rights official slammed forced "rehab camps"
and called for decriminalizing drug use. As many as half million
people could be locked up in punitive, old-school mass
detoxification camps.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/UN_health_official_decriminalization

12. LATIN AMERICA: MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION FARES POORLY IN CHILE
POLL
If you are trying to figure out which Latin American country
will be the first to legalize marijuana, you can probably
eliminate Chile. Support for legalization there is in the teens
-- and declining.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/chile_marijuana_legalization_poll

13. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/drug_war_history

14. ANNOUNCEMENT: THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY REFORM
CONFERENCE, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, NOVEMBER 12-14
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United
States and around the world come to the International Drug
Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and
strategize together for change. This year the conference is in
Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/2009_international_drug_policy_reform_conference_a
lbuquerque_new_mexico

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/606/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle

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/606/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war

17. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
"Marijuana Debate! Former Judge vs. Several Complete Idiots,"
"Efforts to Stop Drugs at the Border Have Become a Joke," "It's
Not Just Marijuana -- DEA is at War With Other Medicines Too,"
"A Marijuana Blog That's the Opposite of All the Others," "Obama
Isn't Plotting to Legalize Marijuana, But Everyone Else Is,"
"Former Drug Czar Lies About His History of Attacking Medical
Marijuana," "It's Official: The Media is in Love With Marijuana
Legalization," "An Historic Hearing on Marijuana Legalization in
Sacramento," "Our Side: San Diego ASA Protests State Narcs Lobby
Awards," "Heroin Maintenance Comes to Denmark" and "Nice Article
on Wisconsin's Medical Marijuana Bill and the Movement
Supporting It."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/blogging_at_the_speakeasy

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

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

1. Editorial: How Much Does It Cost to Build an Air-Conditioned
Drug Smuggling Tunnel?
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/just_another_air_conditioned_drug_smuggling_tunnel

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

Last year I attended a small lunch-time forum on the subject of
immigration and the US-Mexico border. Seated at the table was a
man in a military uniform, not one of the speakers, but clearly
eager to say his piece. After the presentation was over, he put
up his hand, told us he was an officer with Southcom -- the
branch of the Armed Forces dealing with areas to the south of
the United States -- and that his military education and
experience told him that walls don't stop people. Walls just
slow people down, he said -- you can go over a wall, you can
through it, you can go around it, or you can go under it. And
militarily he understood that a wall spanning our border would
not slow people down enough to stop the kind of traffic that we
have crossing the border -- not unless we simply shoot people to
kill on sight, which he was unwilling to do.

Whatever one thinks about immigration, or attempts to block it
at the border, the reasoning has clear implications for the
so-far ineffective attempts at drug interdiction. If it is
either impossible or at least difficult to stop people at the
border -- and since we haven't managed to do it so far, it must
at least be difficult -- how difficult must it be to stop the
flow of drugs? After all, people have a certain height and width
and depth, and they need oxygen and occasionally food and water
and space to move. Drugs can be packaged in any shape or size,
they don't require maintenance over the period of time involved
in trafficking them, and a fairly small volume of certain drugs
can be worth a small mint. It's fairly safe to say that drugs
are not going to be kept out of this country, no matter how hard
we try. It is simply not going to happen.

Since that time the issue has taken on a new degree of poignancy
and urgency. Since Mexican President Calderon took office in
2006 and began his attempted crackdown against the cartels, more
than 12,000 Mexicans have died in the surge of violence that
followed. The 2009 death toll alone has passed 6,000. Because
drugs are illegal, all the money people spend on them in the US
goes into a criminal underground where violence is often the
rule. The unabated flow of drugs across the US-Mexico border is
powerful evidence of prohibition's failure.

The past week offered up a more visual form of evidence to make
the point. Across the border from San Diego in Tijuana a
partially-completed smuggling tunnel was found. They got almost
as far as the border fence. It was found by the authorities
before being finished, but not very long before. Military
officials took a group of reporters to see it on Tuesday
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091028/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_border_tunnel).
The tunnel had been equipped with electricity and an air supply,
according to the Associated Press.

The tunnel is neither a new nor unique development. Last year
one was found in the Mexican state of Baja California. That one
had an elevator and rail transport system
(http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20080902-1549-bn02tunnel.html).
At least 75 have been found since the 1990s
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/2676766/Ai
r-conditioned-drugs-smuggling-tunnel-discovered-on-US-Mexico-border.html),
according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau
(ICE). They're not limited to our southern border, either
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/398/patriot2.shtml).

My two questions are: How many successful drug smuggling
operations are needed in order to pay for constructing and
maintaining such a tunnel -- might it only need to be used once?
-- and how many more tunnels are there that have never been
found? I have a feeling that there are many undiscovered
smuggling tunnels, and that the cost of building one with
air-conditioning and electric transportation is low compared
with the likely rewards. Mexico offers a virtually unlimited
labor pool. The proof that the cost is low is simply the fact
that they keep building them over and over. They wouldn't keep
building the tunnels if it weren't a cost-effective strategy.

Don't expect the drug trade to slow anytime soon, at least not
because of law enforcement, and don't let the pictures of the
latest tunnel or drug seizure fool you into thinking it might.
Hope that something happens to stop the wave of violence
terrorizing our southern neighbors and threatening our borders
possibly too. But don't expect that finding another tunnel is
what will do that.

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

2. Feature: Historic Hearing on Marijuana Legalization in the
California Legislature
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/606/marijuana_legalization_hearing_california_ammiano_
bill

In an historic hearing Wednesday, the California legislature
examined the pros and cons of marijuana legalization. The
hearing marked the first time legalization has been discussed in
the legislature since California banned marijuana in 1913.

Onlookers and media packed the hearing room for the three-hour
session. Capitol employees had to hook up remote monitors in the
hallway for the overflowing crowd of supporters and opponents of
marijuana legalization.

The hearing before the legislature's Public Safety Committee was
called for and chaired by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-SF), who
earlier this year introduced AB 390
(http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_0351-0400/ab_390_bill_20090223_introduced
.pdf),
a bill that would legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana in the
state. While Ammiano has made clear that he supports
legalization, the witness list for the hearing was
well-balanced, with legislative analysts and representatives of
law enforcement as well as reform advocates in the mix.

The hearing began with testimony from legislative analysts, who
estimated that the state could realize tax revenues ranging from
hundreds of millions to nearly $1.4 billion a year from
legalization. The latter figure was from the state Board of
Equalization, while the lower estimates came from the
Legislative Analyst's Office.

But tax revenues wouldn't be the only fiscal impact of
legalization. "If California were to legalize, we would no
longer have offenders in state prison or on parole for marijuana
offenses," noted Golaszewski. "We estimate the savings there at
several tens of millions of dollars a year. There would also be
a substantial reduction in the number of arrests and criminal
cases law enforcement makes. To the extent they no longer have
to arrest people for marijuana, they could shift resources
elsewhere."

Golaszewski said there are roughly 1,500 people imprisoned on
marijuana charges in California, 850 of them for possession
offenses.

The analysts were followed by a panel of attorneys who debated
the legality of state legalization. "If California decides to
legalize, nothing in the Constitution stands in its way," said
Tamar Todd, a staff attorney for the Drug Policy Alliance
Network (http://www.drugpolicy.org).

But while Marty Mayer, attorney for the California Peace
Officers Association (http://www.cpoa.org), generally agreed
with that assessment, he also argued that the state could not
unilaterally legalize. "The state of California cannot
unequivocally legalize marijuana," he said, noting that
marijuana is prohibited under federal law.

Next up were the cops, and there were no surprises there.
"Marijuana radically diminishes our society," said CPOA
president John Standish. "Marijuana is a mind-altering addictive
drug that robs you of memory, motivation, and concentration," he
said before Ammiano cut him short, noting that the purpose of
the hearing was to discuss public safety and economic impacts of
legalization, not to debate marijuana's effects on health.

"Alcohol and cigarettes are taxed to the hilt, but the taxes
don't cover the cost of medical treatment, let alone DUIs,"
Standish continued. "This would lead to an increase in crime
rates, social costs, medical costs, and environmental concerns.
There is also a very real concern that Mexican drug cartels are
behind most of the imported marijuana coming into the US," he
added, without explaining what that had to do with legalizing
marijuana production in California.

And, pulling out yet another woolly chestnut, Standish resorted
to the old and discredited "gateway theory" that marijuana use
is a stepping stone to hard drug use. "Marijuana is a gateway
drug," he said. "Every incident in 30 years of law enforcement I
have been in where marijuana has been involved has not been
good. Both marijuana and methamphetamine are equally critical
problems," he said.

After reciting a short list of violent incidents around
large-scale illegal grows allegedly operated by Mexican drug
cartels, Sara Simpson, acting assisting chief of the Attorney
General's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, warned that the
cartels were likely to try to maintain their market share. "That
could lead to more violence," she warned.

"Legalizing marijuana is bad public policy," said Simpson. "A
significant number of marijuana users are incapacitated," she
claimed. "When a recreational drug user backs over your
four-year-old, you consider yourself a victim of violent crime.
Legalization would increase death and injury totals."

"Why would we want to legalize a substance known to cause
cancer?" asked Scott Kirkland, chief of police in El Cerrito and
chairman of the California Police Chiefs' Medical Marijuana Task
Force. "Legalization will only result in increased use of
marijuana with a corresponding increase in drugged driving," he
warned.

But later witnesses said that California was simply wasting
resources by arresting marijuana offenders. Dan Macallair,
executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal
Justice (http://www.cjcj.org), said that arrest statistics from
the past 20 years show that California law enforcement is more
focused on prosecuting simple possession cases than cultivation
and sales.

"California's drug war, particularly on marijuana, is focused on
drug users," he said. "Virtually every category of crime has
declined since 1990, except for a dramatic increase in arrests
for marijuana possession. In 1990, there were 20,834 arrests for
possession. Last year, there were 61,388 arrests. "

This was going on while arrests for all other drug offenses
declined, Macallair said. For all other drugs, arrests were down
29%. Even marijuana manufacture and sales arrests had declined
by 21%. More people went to prison in California in 2008 for
marijuana possession than for manufacture or sales, he added.

"Our courtrooms are full every day with marijuana cases," said
Terence Hallinan, the former San Francisco City and County
District Attorney. "It's still against the law to sell even a
gram. There are a lot of people in court and jail for marijuana
offenses."

The Rev. Canon Mary Moreno Richardson of St. Paul's Episcopal
Cathedral in San Diego told the committee marijuana law
enforcement has especially pernicious effects on the young.
"When they find a group of kids with a joint, they take them all
in to juvie. When they're incarcerated, they join gangs for
safety. Jails have become the boot camps for the gangs," she
said. "We need to think about and protect our youth."

"I speak on behalf of California's millions of marijuana users
who are tired of being criminals and would like to be taxpaying,
law-abiding citizens," said Dale Gieringer, executive director
of California NORML (http://www.canorml.org). "We think it makes
no sense for taxpayers to pay for criminalizing marijuana users
and their suppliers when we could be raising revenues in a legal
market."

"Today, our marijuana laws are putting our children in harm's
way," said retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James P.
Gray. "We want to reduce the exposure of a lifestyle of
marijuana use and selling to our children, but prohibition's
illegal dealers don't ask for ID," he said.

At the end of the hearing, Ammiano opened the floor to public
comment. While most speakers supported legalization, a
contingent of conservative African-American religious leaders
vigorously denounced it. "I know from personal experience the
devastation that occurs in one's life and community as a result
of drug abuse that began with marijuana," said Bishop Ron Allen,
founder and president of the International Faith Based
Coalition.

Also in opposition was Californians for Drug Free Youth. John
Redman, the group's director, said legalizing marijuana to raise
revenues was reprehensible. "This is blood money, pure and
simple," Redman said.

The battle lines are shaping up. On one side are law
enforcement, conservative clerics, and anti-drug zealots. On the
other are researchers, activists, and, evidently, the majority
of Californians. Ammiano gave as a handout at the hearing a
sheet listing at least six recent polls showing majority support
for marijuana legalization in the state.

The bill isn't going anywhere for awhile. Ammiano said he will
hold more hearings later and may revise it based on the
hearings. But marijuana legalization is now before the
legislature in California.

================ ...

___________________

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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