As usual(when I am really awake) followups
are set to talk.politics.drugs.
=====================
Drug War Chronicle, Issue #507 -- 10/26/07
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"
Students: Intern at DRCNet to help stop the drug war!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/drcnet_intern****ps_to_stop_the_drug_war
Table of Contents:
1. EDITORIAL: ENOUGH ALREADY -- STOP FUNDING THE TALIBAN THROUGH
OPIUM PROHIBITION
Whatever direction the drug war compass points, one way or its
opposite, it never points anywhere good.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/stop_funding_the_taliban_through_opium_prohibition
2. FEATURE: BUSH REVEALS PLAN MEXICO, PROPOSES $1.5 BILLION
ANTI-DRUG AID PACKAGE
The Bush administration Tuesday officially asked Congress to
fund a $1.4 billion anti-drug package for Mexico and Central
America, but there are lots of questions and criticisms
emerging.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/bush_unveils_plan_mexico_anti_drug_aid_package
3. FEATURE: SAN FRANCISCO PONDERS A SAFE INJECTION SITE, WOULD
BE THE NATION'S FIRST
Last week, San Francisco took the first tentative steps toward
creating a safe injection site for drug users. It would be the
first in the United States, but don't hold your breath --
there's a long way to go and many obstacles to overcome.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/san_francisco_ponders_safe_injection_site
4. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
THE SPEAKEASY
"DEA Director Resigns, Says She Had an Awesome Time," "Drug Czar
Opposes Effort to Reduce Drug Overdoses," "This Man Receives 300
Marijuana Joints a Month from the Federal Government."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/blogging_at_the_speakeasy
5. STUDENTS: INTERN AT DRCNET AND HELP STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an intern****p at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and
you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/drcnet_intern****ps_to_stop_the_drug_war
6. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
This week, we have our mandatory greedy jail guards, and another
case that's a little stickier. Are the people in our first story
corrupt cops or desperate pain patients or junkies or pill
peddlers or some combination of the above? You be the judge.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/police_drug_corruption
7. SENTENCING: OHIO SENATE P***** BILL TO EQUALIZE CRACK/POWDER
COCAINE DISPARITY BY RAISING SENTENCES
Marching boldly backward, the Ohio State Senate has voted to
reduce the disparity in sentencing for powder and crack cocaine
offenses by raising those penalties for powder -- not reducing
those for crack.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/407/ohio_senate_raises_sentences_crack_cocaine_bill
8. MARIJUANA: FLORIDA BILL WOULD TOUGHEN PENALTIES FOR GROWING
Faced with a wave of indoor marijuana growing operations,
Florida drug warrior Attorney General Bill McCullom and his law
enforcement and legislative allies are fighting back with a bill
proposing tougher penalties and new criminal offenses.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/florida_marijuana_grow_bill_mccullom
9. LAW ENFORCEMENT: KAREN TANDY RESIGNS AS DEA CHIEF
Karen Tandy's four-year tenure as head of the DEA is coming to
an end. She announced Monday she would resign to take a position
with Motorola.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/karen_tandy_DEA_chief_resigns
10. DEATH PENALTY: IRAN EXECUTES FIVE MORE DRUG TRADERS,
AUSTRALIAN FACES ULTIMATE SANCTION OVER HALF OUNCE OF HASH IN
BALI
The world's drug laws continue to create new victims for the
executioner. In Iran, five more are hanged, while in Indonesia,
prosecutors ask for the death penalty for an Australian over a
few grams of hash and weed.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/death_penalty_iran_executes_five_barry_hess_bali_hash
11. SOUTHWEST ASIA: OPIUM ACCOUNTS FOR MAYBE HALF OF TALIBAN
FUNDING, US COMMANDER SAYS
Drug prohibition is proving to be a bonanza for the Taliban,
according to the top US military commander in Afghanistan.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/afghanistan_opium_trade_funds_taliban_US_commander_says
12. LATIN AMERICA: ECUADOR PRESIDENT JERKS WA****NGTON'S CHAIN
OVER MANTA AIR BASE
The lease on the US anti-drug air base at Manta, Ecuador, runs
out in 2009. Ecuador's President Correa says no way he will
renew it -- unless Wa****ngton lets him put a base in Miami.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/ecuador_president_correa_manta_air_base_miami
13. WEB SCAN
Marc Emery, student drug testings, economics of cocaine, GAO,
DrugTruth, more...
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/drug_policy_links
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/507/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/507/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle
16. JOBS IN HARM REDUCTION: HARM REDUCTION COALITION AND
PREVENTION WORKS
HRC is hiring a CBA Specialist for its African American Capacity
Building Initiative, and Prevention Works is hiring an executive
director.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/harm_reduction_jobs
17. WEBMASTERS: HELP THE MOVEMENT BY RUNNING DRCNET SYNDICATION
FEEDS ON 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/507/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_now_available
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/507/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/507/drug_reform_calendar
(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org
to sign up
today!)
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1. Editorial: Enough Already -- Stop Funding the Taliban Through
Opium Prohibition
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/507/stop_funding_the_taliban_through_opium_prohibition
David Borden, Executive Director,
http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/borden
The drug war is in part a human rights issue. With half a
million people in prison for nonviolent drug offenses, with
medical marijuana providers being hounded by the authorities,
with needle exchange programs that are needed to save lives
getting blocked, the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy itself opposing San Francisco's proposed safe injection
site (when did it become wrong to save lives?), with countries
pressured by us to spray their lands with harmful chemicals to
attack unstoppable drug crops, the United States through its
drug policy has become a major human rights violator. It is a
sad chapter.
We at DRCNet partly see drug reform as a human rights movement,
and so ten years ago when very few Americans had heard of the
Taliban, but the UN and the Clinton administration intended to
fund them to do opium eradication, we condemned the Taliban in
this newsletter and criticized the proposal. The fear of human
rights advocates was that the brutal regime would be able to use
the money to further establish its hold on power. Anyone who
watched the footage of Taliban atrocities airing on US news
stations after 9/11 can understand why that's a bad thing. Other
reasons for opposing the Taliban are quite well known now.
Today we continue to fund the Taliban -- we don't say we do, we
claim to be fighting them, we even send our soldiers to fight
them in person -- but we are funding them. We are funding them
by prohibiting drugs. Because drugs are illegal, they cannot be
regulated, and so their source plants are grown wherever and by
whomever is willing and able to gain a foothold in the market.
For a large share of the global opium supply, at the moment that
means Afghanistan. And the Taliban are ca****ng in on that.
And how. Just this week, a NATO commander said opium may provide
as much as 40% of the Taliban's revenues, hundreds of millions
of dollars -- some experts say it's more like 60%, he added. If
opium-derived drugs were legal and regulated, that wouldn't
happen. And governments are therefore at fault for creating a
funding source for a movement that is destabilizing Afghanistan,
that is abusing the rights of its people, and that may still be
helping Al-Qaeda, all of this five years after we thought we had
gotten rid of them for good.
US officials continue to press for more opium eradication, but
experts agree that eradication helps the Taliban too, by driving
the farmers into their arms -- of course while failing to reduce
the opium crop, instead only moving it from place to place. And
while Afghanistan's government has not unleashed all the
eradication the US government wants, it has done enough to hurt.
A hundred thousand Afghans are employed in the opium trade and
don't have another way to make a living. We can't just tell them
they can't grow opium anymore, and expect them to comply or that
serious damage to the nation-building and counter-insurgency
programs won't result.
Ten years ago, the west helped the Taliban for the sake of
fighting the drug war. Today, the Taliban is an enemy, and we
fight the drug war supposedly to fight them, but in the process
instead help them -- see how no matter what direction the drug
war compass points, one way or its opposite, it never points to
anywhere good. That is why I say, enough already, stop funding
the Taliban and other dangerous people through drug prohibition,
legalize drugs to make this world a safer place.
================
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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