The editor took a week off and wrote a great editorial this
week so I included the Editorial in this post of the urls with
item descriptions. Followups are set to the talk.politics.drugs
newsgroups which due to diverse interests is the last of the
drug newsgroups I follow.
Join the DRC and send letters to your represenatives in
the US Congress to sup****t the reform of the debased punitive
drug laws in the USA.
Now i am going to have a bit of chocolate(bitter-sweet, 72%
cocoa solids).
Drug War Chronicle, Issue #493 -- 7/13/07
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
ALERT: Major Medical Marijuana Vote in Congress Next Week:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana
WE WANT PARDONS: Petition to Save Bush's Legacy by Persuading
Him to Pardon Thousands of Nonviolent Drug Offenders:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/wewantpardons
Table of Contents:
1. FEATURE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA -- A PROGRESS RE****T
Eleven years ago, no Americans had the protection of a state
medical marijuana law. Now, some 50 million do, but that means
some 250 million don't. While progress has been made, it has
been slow, and there is plenty more to do.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/medical_marijuana_progress_re****t
2. DRUG WAR CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW: "HIGH SOCIETY: HOW SUBSTANCE
ABUSE RAVAGES AMERICA AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT," BY JOSEPH
CALIFANO (2007, PUBLIC AFFAIRS PRESS, 270 PP., $26.95 HB)
Joe Califano's "High Society" is a strange brew of legitimate
concerns, hype, distortions, and what look to us to be misguided
policy pronouncements. We review it this issue.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/joseph_califano_high_society_book_review
3. WE WANT PARDONS: PETITION TO SAVE BUSH'S LEGACY BY PERSUADING
HIM TO PARDON THOUSANDS OF NONVIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS
While President Bush has pardoned 12 Thanksgiving turkeys in an
annual White House ceremony since taking office 6 1/2 years ago,
he has commuted only four people's prison sentences, one of them
Scooter Libby's. We want more!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/petition_to_pardon_thousands_of_nonviolent_drug_offenders
4. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
THE SPEAKEASY
Rudy Giuliani hates medical marijuana, Ann Althouse insults
medical marijuana, positive drug tests don't prove impairment,
home state blues, a better mayor, dog cloning for the drug war,
opposing the drug war doesn't make us pro-drug, more...
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/blogging_at_the_speakeasy_every_day
5. APPEAL: A VICTORY IS IN THE WORKS, WITH YOUR HELP
Our multi-year campaign to repeal an infamous law that denies
financial aid to students because of drug convictions may soon
ride to a successful conclusion.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/hea_victory_is_in_the_works
6. 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/493/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle
7. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
The allure of Oxycontin (and its profits) snags two cops, a
deputy can't keep his paws off the meth, and a South Carolina
cop gets charged with drug dealing. Just another week in the
drug war.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/police_drug_corruption
8. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: RUDY GIULIANI JUST SAYS NO
Republican presidential nomination contender Rudy Giuliani has
rejected medical marijuana, claiming it is a a stalking horse
for legalization.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/rudy_giuliani_just_says_no_to_medical_marijuana
9. THE DRUG DEBATE: AMERICAN MAYORS URGE "A NEW BOTTOM LINE" AND
A PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH FOR DRUG POLICY
The US Conference of Mayors last month adopted a resolution
calling the war on drugs a failure and urging "a new bottom
line" on drug policy.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/united_states_mayors_conference_resolution_drugs_new_bottom_line
10. MARIJUANA: CALIFORNIA SUPERIOR COURT UPHOLDS SANTA BARBARA'S
"LOWEST ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY" LAW
A California Superior Court judge has thrown out an effort by
the city of Santa Barbara to undo the city's voter-mandated
policy making adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest law
enforcement priority.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/california_court_throws_out_santa_barbara_lowest_priority_marijuana_slapp_suit
11. DRUG TESTING: TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT HOLDS OFF-DUTY
MARIJUANA USE NO REASON TO DENY WORKMAN'S COMP CLAIM
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that merely because a
worker admitted to smoking marijuana the night before he
suffered a workplace injury was no reason to deny him workman's
compensation.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/494/tennessee_supreme_court_workmans_comp_marijuana_ruling
12. CANADA: A MAJORITY FAVORS MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION, BUT
ARRESTS ARE RISING
A new poll shows a majority of Canadians favor marijuana
legalization, the UN says that Canadians are avid pot smokers,
and now that the Liberal decrim proposal has faded, police are
arresting more Canadians than ever for the weed.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/canadians_sup****t_marijuana_legalization_but_arrests_increase
13. BARRY BEYERSTEIN: WE HAVE LOST ONE OF THE BEST
Memorial for academic and pioneering drug reformer Barry
Beyerstein, by long-time friend Arnold Trebach.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/tribute_to_barry_beyerstein
14. WEB SCAN
PBS on Lakota hemp, marijuana and religion, SSDP Voice, Heroin
Times, NPR on DC needle exchange, Exodus Transitional Community,
Cannabinoid Chronicles, LEAP web site relaunched
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/drug_policy_links
15. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/drug_war_history
16. JOB OP****TUNITY: HARM REDUCTION COALITION, OAKLAND
The Harm Reduction Coalition hiring Syringe Exchange Program
Specialist for its Oakland, California office.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/harm_reduction_coalition_syringe_exchange_job
17. JOB OP****TUNITIES: MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT, WA****NGTON
MPP is hiring a Director of Federal Policies and a Web Developer
for its DC headquarters.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/mpp_web_fed_jobs
18. ANNOUNCEMENT: DRCNET CONTENT SYNDICATION FEEDS NOW AVAILABLE
FOR YOUR WEB SITE!
Sup****t the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War
Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_now_available
19. ANNOUNCEMENT: DRCNET RSS FEEDS NOW AVAILABLE
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War
Chronicle and more -- is now available.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available
20. ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW FORMAT FOR THE REFORMER'S CALENDAR
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/493/drug_reform_calendar
(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org
to sign up
today!)
================
1. Feature: Medical Marijuana -- A Progress Re****t
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/493/medical_marijuana_progress_re****t
A little more than a decade after California voters passed
Proposition 215 in 1996, making it the first state to approve
the use of medical marijuana, the movement continues its slow
spread across the country. Now, medical marijuana is legal in 12
states (with varying degrees of protection), and roughly 50
million people -- or about one out of six Americans -- live in
those states.
On the Pacific Coast, medical marijuana is legal from the
Canadian border to the Mexican border (Wa****ngton, Oregon,
California), as well as in Alaska and Hawaii. In the
intermountain West, Colorado, Montana, and Nevada were joined
this year by New Mexico as states where medical marijuana is
legal. The other regional medical marijuana hotbed is the
Northeast, where Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont allow its use,
and only a veto from Republican Gov. Jodi Rell kept Connecticut
from joining those ranks this year.
While it may be a bit of an exaggeration to speak of a pincer
movement aimed at the heartland, medical marijuana is on the
move. In addition to the 12 states where it is legal, a number
of other states, including Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New
Jersey, and New York have seen progress in state legislatures
and are inching closer to approving medical marijuana.
Meanwhile, a medical marijuana initiative is getting underway in
Michigan, and activists are eyeing similar initiative campaigns
in a handful of other states.
But at the same time, the federal government remains staunchly
opposed to medical marijuana. The Justice Department and the DEA
continue to harass patients and providers, especially in
California, where a loosely-written Prop. 215 has led to the
most wide-open medical marijuana scene in the country. While the
DEA, sometimes working with recalcitrant state and local law
enforcement officials, has been raiding dispensaries for years,
this week the agency unveiled a new tactic against them: It sent
letters to dozens of Los Angeles area landlords who rent to
dispensaries, threatening them with civil forfeiture and
possible criminal action if they continue to rent to what the
DEA considers criminal drug trafficking organizations.
Similarly, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
regularly sends out its shock troops to attempt to defeat
medical marijuana legislation and initiatives at the state
level. The DEA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) all attempt to
block independent research on the therapeutic uses of cannabis
and throw whatever obstacles they can imagine in the path of
medical marijuana.
But the federal government is under attack by medical marijuana
advocates coming from several different angles. In Congress, the
most significant piece of medical marijuana-related legislation
is the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, which would bar the use of
federal funds to persecute patients and providers in states
where it is legal. Hearings and a vote in the House on
Hinchey-Rohrabacher are expected in the next week or two. While
approval appears unlikely this year, sup****ters, including the
group spearheading the effort, the Marijuana Policy Project
(http://www.mpp.org),
expect to pick up votes and edge ever
closer to the needed majority.
In the meantime, there are three legal challenges to the federal
hard line on medical marijuana:
* Aided by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic
Studies (http://www.maps.org)
and the ACLU Drug Law Reform
Project (http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy),
University of
Massachusetts-Amherst researcher Dr. Lyle Craker is suing the
DEA in an attempt to break the government monopoly on the
production of medical marijuana for research purposes. In
February, a DEA administrative law judge ruled that Craker's
request would be "in the public interest."
(http://www.maps.org/mmj/DEAlawsuit.html#favorable)
The DEA is
appealing that ruling.
* Apparently acting on the notion that the best defense is a
good offense, the medical marijuana defense organization
Americans for Safe Access, or ASA (http://www.safeaccessnow.org)
is suing HHS and the FDA over their position that "marijuana has
no accepted medical value." Using the little-known Data Quality
Act, which mandates that federal agencies set policies on the
basis of sound science, ASA filed suit in February after two
years of fruitless petitioning at the agencies. Yesterday, a
federal judge heard arguments in a government motion to dismiss
the case. An ASA motion for summary judgment will be heard next
month.
* A 2002 petition to reschedule marijuana as a Schedule III,
IV, or V drug (http://www.drugscience.org/petition_intro.html),
filed by marijuana scholar and activist Jonathan Gettman that
has been langui****ng for years awaits a government response this
month. Current federal law considers marijuana a Schedule I drug
with no accepted medical value.
Clearly, the medical marijuana movement is trying to advance on
many fronts, and while the disparate groups that make up the
movement may be on the same page, they aren't always reading the
same paragraphs. With a movement that includes groups like MPP,
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
(http://www.norml.org),
which seek an end to marijuana
prohibition outright, and groups like the Drug Policy Alliance,
or DPA (http://www.drugpolicy.org),
which seeks broader drug
policy reform, as well as organizations like ASA and Patients
Out of Time, or POT (http://www.medicalcannabis.com),
which
focus exclusively on medical marijuana, it is little surprise
that while there is broad strategic agreement, there are
tactical differences.
Groups differ on the utility of acting at the state versus the
federal level, over whether initiatives or legislative action is
preferable, and over who should be the public face of the
movement, among other issues. For some, even winning more
victories at the state level is not as im****tant as changing the
parameters of the debate.
For MPP, which is hard at work in the states as well as on
Capitol Hill, meaningful change will result from continuing to
hammer away at the federal level, said Dan Bernath, MPP
assistant director of communications. "There will probably be a
vote on Hinchey-Rohrabacher within a week or two, and we think
we will pick up at least 20 votes," he said.
But with the amendment having garnered 163 votes last year, an
additional couple of dozen votes would still leave it well short
of the 218 votes needed to ensure passage in the House. "It is
not likely to happen this year," Bernath conceded, "but it is
im****tant that we continue to build momentum for the future. The
safer it looks for politicians, the easier it is for them to
vote for it."
While passage of Hinchey-Rohrabacher would not change the
federal marijuana laws, it would effectively protect patients,
Bernath said. "If the Department of Justice loses funding to go
after medical marijuana in the states, that would be 100%
protection for patients."
ASA, while sup****ting Hinchey-Rohrabacher, was quick to point
out that the protection provided by Hinchey-Rohrabacher would
only apply to patients in states where medical marijuana is
legal. "Hinchey has been something for certain drug reform
organizations and proponents to rally around to help turn the
tide on medical marijuana," said ASA spokesman Kris Hermes, "but
it is certainly not the be all and end all. It would
unfortunately only protect patients and providers in those 12
states, but does little to address the concerns of doctors,
patients, and caregivers in the rest of the country."
More promising for ASA, Hermes said, are the federal lawsuits.
"The ruling by the DEA judge in the Craker case certainly adds
to the growing chorus in sup****t of doing further research on
the subject," he argued. "And if we can win our case against HHS
and the FDA, that would only build pressure on the government's
position that marijuana has no medicinal value."
Some patient-oriented groups would rather concentrate on
medium-term movement-building than short-term political
victories. "While we accept the strategy of most people working
within the movement, which is to change the law and get the
patients their medicine, we don't always agree with the
tactics," said Al Byrne, spokesman for Patients Out of Time,
which has concentrated on educating the public and especially
the medical profession about medical marijuana. "We need to let
educators lead the movement into the future, not lobbyists,
lawyers, and legislators," he argued. "Picking up the states one
by one is worthwhile, but after a while it's sort of redundant.
We don't think we will see real meaningful change until the
medical community accepts marijuana as medicine."
Patients Out of Time has for the past several years worked to
bring the medical community on board through its series of
conferences on cannabis therapeutics, which bring together
scientists, researchers, and medical professionals from around
the country and the world to discuss the latest advances. POT's
Fifth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics
(http://www.medicalcannabis.com/conference.htm)
is set for next
April in California.
Winning more medical marijuana victories at the state level is
not redundant for MPP. To get change at the federal level will
require more states getting aboard the medical marijuana
bandwagon, said Bernath. "The way change will happen is that
when enough states adopt their own medical marijuana laws, the
federal government will no longer be able to ignore this."
To that end, MPP will continue to push for passage of state
medical marijuana laws, sometimes through the initiative and
referendum process and sometimes through the legislative
process. In Illinois, Minnesota, New Hamp****re, and New York,
medical marijuana legislation got some traction this year. "We
can pick up next year where we left off," said Bernath.
DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann, whose organization is
working on medical marijuana bills legislation in Connecticut
and New Jersey, was quick to add those states to the list. DPA
sees more bang for the buck in legislative efforts than
initiatives, he said. "Legislative campaigns cost money, but not
as much as ballot initiatives, and they have the advantage of
generating enormous amounts of free media," he said. "Since a
major part of the medical marijuana effort is about public
education, the more hearings you have and the more media they
generate, the better."
Bernath also pointed to MPP involvement in a Michigan medical
marijuana initiative campaign that is just getting underway and
suggested there may be more initiatives in other states. "The
polls are looking pretty good in Arizona, Idaho, and Ohio," he
said.
"This is where MPP and DPA have a slightly different
philosophy," said Nadelmann. "I hope the Michigan initiative
wins, and it would be helpful if it did, but as a matter of
resource allocation, I'm skeptical about the value added of
spending all that money to win one more state. But that's a
judgment call," he added.
NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre drew a distinction
between states that accepted medical marijuana through the
initiative process and those that accepted it through the
legislative process. "The initiatives covered a greater number
of stakeholders and are more functional than the ensuing laws,
which are very narrow in scope, serve fewer stakeholders, and
haven't changed the federal dynamic of those states'
representation in Wa****ngton," he argued. "If you look at who is
sup****ting Hinchey-Rohrabacher, it is the delegations from the
Western and Rocky Mountain states where sup****t is strongest --
the states where medical marijuana came about through the
initiative process."
On the other hand, St. Pierre acknowledged, states that have
legalized medical marijuana through the legislative process have
fewer problems with recalcitrant law enforcement. "In large
parts of initiative states like California, Wa****ngton, and
Oregon, the police simply ignore the law," he pointed out. "But
when a medical marijuana bill goes through the legislature, law
enforcement is part of the process. The police got to have their
say. They lost, but at least they were sitting at the table."
Eleven years ago, no patients were protected by state medical
marijuana laws. Now, some 50 million Americans live in states
where they could be, and that's progress. But it also means that
some 250 million Americans continue without the protection of
state medical marijuana laws, and despite tentative advances in
the South and the Midwest, today those areas remain without any
such laws. In the last few years, progress has been made, but at
a painfully slow pace. Perhaps that will change next year, with
a number of states well into legislative consideration of
medical marijuana bills.
And perhaps things will change at the federal level the year
after that, especially if the Democrats extend and deepen their
control of Congress. But at this juncture, the only likely
federal changes will come if one of the lawsuits turns out
victorious, and that means going back to the states and
whittling away at medical marijuana prohibition one statehouse
or one popular vote at a time.
================
The following material is included for the more uninformed lurkers
and prohibitionists. Nearly all of it is from U.S.A. government sources.
** Begin copied material from Usenet **
Marijuana: it's nowhere near as scary as they want
you to think. truth: the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>
Nothing will ever change if we don't stand up for
ourselves:
http://cannabisconsumers.org
"Cops say legalize drugs" ask them why:
<http://www.leap.cc>
...America just celebrated 90 years of Federal drug "control"
(the Harrision Narcotics Act was passed on December 17, 1914) --
when do you suppose this prohibition stuff will start to "work"?
Brian Bennett, Thursday 17 December 2004
** End copied material from Usenet **
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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