.: The Drugs War under Scrutiny Blog

Welcome to News2020.com where we hope to serve up the latest sceptical slant on the 'Drugs War' lunacy. Bringing together the most relevant third party news feeds and a commentable editorial blog, allowing you to have your say on recent events, we hope the site offers a platform for sane voices and reasoned debate. News2020.com strives to be a resource for highlighting cannabis related news, politics, stories and features from around the world and with XML driven breaking news, recommended links, visitor comment, and our own fun twist on the news we hope you choose to bookmark News2020.com now."The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this" Albert Einstein........

British Public Opinion Headed in Wrong Direction on Drug Policy, Poll Finds
StopthedrugWar.org
November 23rd 2008

Beyond 2008 -- Looking Past the November US Elections StopThe Drug WAR October 25th 2008   With the November 4 elections now less than two weeks away, most people, drug reformers included, are focused on the near term. Drug reformers in particular are watching with great interest as Michigan voters decide on medical marijuana, Massachusetts voters decide on marijuana decriminalization, and California voters decide whether to approve a groundbreaking treatment-not-jail initiative. (chart appears courtesy MPP) But some are looking past next month's elections and plotting the future of drug reform. Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project is one of them. At last weekend's National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) conference in Berkeley, Kampia laid out his vision for the next few years. But before that, he bluntly predicted success in Massachusetts and Michigan. "We are looking at a pair of major victories on November 4," he told the cheering crowd. With a dozen medical marijuana states already and Michigan poised to be the breakthrough state in the Midwest, MPP will be aiming at placing medical marijuana initiatives on the ballot in three more states in 2010 -- Ohio, Massachusetts, and Arizona, Kampia said. He also listed nine states where MPP is working to move medical marijuana forward through the legislative process. In four of them -- Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York -- significant progress has already been made, and MPP will attempt to build on that. In five other states -- Delaware, Iowa, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia -- work is just getting started in the legislature. How successful MPP will be in the near future depends greatly on the outcome of next month's national election, warned MPP communications director Bruce Mirken. "The overarching thing is we will push ahead with as much of this as we can, but it will all be affected by next month's election," he said. "That will either give us a major push or make our lives much more complicated. We're hopeful it will be the former." But regardless of what happens in November, MPP will also be returning to Nevada in what would be a third bid to actually legalize marijuana possession there. "We will try to file a legalization initiative in Nevada in 2012," Kampia said. (chart appears courtesy MPP) "Nevada is definitely on the agenda," said Mirken. "We've always considered Nevada to be an ongoing project, we got significantly closer on our last attempt, and we're definitely looking at going back." One clear sign of MPP's intentions in Nevada is their latest hiring announcement. It includes five positions in the state. MPP isn't the only national reform organization eyeing the future. "We have a lot planned," said Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) executive director Ethan Nadelmann, "but the bigger question right now is what will happen with California's Proposition 5 (related story here). It contains a marijuana decriminalization provision, and if it passes, it will affect a larger number of people than any decrim measure ever." But while the outcome of Prop. 5 will have an immediate impact, it will also set the course for DPA's future work in the Golden State. "What we do next in California depends on Prop. 5," he said. Whatever happens in California, DPA will be continuing to work on medical marijuana legislative efforts in three states -- Alabama, Connecticut, and New Jersey -- as well as implementing the hard-won New Mexico medical marijuana law's distribution provisions, and working with local activists in Maine to get a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot there. The Connecticut legislature passed a medical marijuana bill last year, only to see it vetoed by Republican Gov. Jody Rell. None of the efforts in the other states have gotten that far yet. "We will go back and push for medical marijuana in Connecticut," said Nadelmann. "But again, it will depend on our ability to get Gov. Rell to be more flexible. Our legislative sponsor in Alabama has said she is prepared to run with it again, and our New Jersey office has lined up a bunch of legislators to support medical marijuana," he added. Meanwhile, while MPP is eyeing another legalization run in Nevada four years from now, activists in Oregon's fractious cannabis community are preparing a pair of competing initiatives for the 2010 ballot. Oregon NORML is working on the Oregon Tax Act of 2010, which would regulate and tax adult sales, license the cultivation of marijuana for sale in state-run liquor stores and adults-only businesses, allow for adults to grow their own and farmers to grow hemp without a license, and remove taxation from medical marijuana. While the Tax Act would do away with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA) by rendering it redundant, Voter Power, the group of activists who got OMMA passed a decade ago, have their own initiative in the works. The Voter Power initiative would allow for dispensaries and Patient Resource Centers (PRCs) to sell smokeable marijuana, edibles, tinctures, and lozenges to patients, for growers to legally sell marijuana to dispensaries and PRCs, and for 10% of gross revenues to go back into the Oregon Medial Marijuana Program. But wait, there's more: According to Kampia, the ACLU is organizing for decriminalization efforts in Montana and Washington, and activists in five additional states -- Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin -- are working on medical marijuana efforts in their state legislatures. Right now, all eyes are on November 4, but reforming the drug laws is a work in process, and that process is set to advance in the coming years.

NATO, US Deepen Anti-Drug Operations in Afghanistan in Bid to Throttle Taliban
Stop The Drug War
October 19th 2008

The NATO and US forces battling Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents in Afghanistan are on the verge of expanding their counterinsurgency efforts by getting more deeply involved in trying to suppress the country's booming opium trade. In so doing, they are stepping into tricky territory because they risk alienating large swathes of the population that are dependent on the trade to feed themselves and their families and driving them right into the tender embrace of the Taliban.
The new, more aggressive anti-drug stance will come in two forms. On one hand, NATO has committed for the first time to actively target and track down drug traffickers and heroin-processing laboratories. On the other hand, US military forces training the Afghan military will now begin accompanying Afghan soldiers as they provide force protection for Afghan government poppy eradication teams.

The more aggressive posture comes as the political and military situation in Afghanistan continues to worsen. Some 242 NATO and US troops have been killed in fighting there this year, 10 more than last year with two and a half months to go, and last year was the worst so far for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Some 33,000 US troops, including 13,000 under the command of the ISAF and 20,000 under direct US command, and nearly 40,000 NATO soldiers, are now in Afghanistan, and the Bush administration is calling for an additional 20,000 US troops to be deployed there next year.

The Taliban and related insurgents have shown increased military capabilities, in part because they are able to supply themselves with funds generated by the opium trade. The United Nations estimates that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are making perhaps $100 million a year from taxing poppy farmers and providing protection to drug traffickers.

A leaked draft of an as yet unreleased US National Intelligence Estimate last week revealed that US intelligence agencies believe the war in Afghanistan is "on a downward spiral," with part of the problem resting with a corrupt government under President Hamid Karzai and part of the problem linked to the "destabilizing impact" of the opium trade.

That deteriorating situation impelled US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to head to Europe to try to bring reluctant NATO members on board for a more aggressive anti-drug strategy last week. European countries have been reluctant to step into the morass of anti-drug efforts there, citing the risk of alienating the population and arguing that law enforcement is the responsibility of the Afghan government.

"Part of the problem that we face is that the Taliban make somewhere between $60 million and $80 million or more a year from the drug trafficking," Gates said at the NATO meeting in Budapest. "If we have the opportunity to go after drug lords and drug laboratories and try to interrupt this flow of cash to the Taliban, that seems to me like a legitimate security endeavour." By last Friday, NATO had signed on. According to a Saturday NATO press release, "Based on the request of the Afghan government, consistent with the appropriate United Nations Security Council resolutions, under the existing operational plan, ISAF can act in concert with the Afghans against facilities and facilitators supporting the insurgency, in the context of counter-narcotics, subject to authorization of respective nations."

"At the request of the Afghan government, I am grateful that the North Atlantic Council has given me the authority to expand ISAF's role in counter-narcotics operations," added NATO Supreme Allied Commander US Gen. John Craddock in a statement the same day. "We now have the ability to move forward in an area that affects the security and stability of Afghanistan. It will allow us to reduce the funding and income to the insurgents, which will enhance the force protection of all ISAF and Afghan National Security Force personnel."

That's what Gates and the Bush administration wanted to hear. "It is just going to be part of regular military operations. This is not going to be a special mission," Gates said Saturday," adding that the counter-drug effort was likely to focus on the southern part of the country. "It starts with the commander of ISAF, and then it would be a question of what forces are available. Obviously the United States and the UK are interested in doing this. I think several others would but didn't speak out," he said. "I am fairly optimistic about the future," Gates said. "There is also an understanding that NATO can't fail in Afghanistan."

To that end, the US is taking another step deeper into the Afghan drug war: Using US ground troops to help eradicate poppy fields. The London Daily Mail, among other media, reported that a small number of US soldiers who are training the country's Poppy Eradication Force will accompany their charges as they head into the poppy fields around the beginning of the new year.

The idea is to target land owned by corrupt Afghan power brokers, especially in southern Helmand province, which accounts for the majority of Afghanistan's 93% share of global opium production. That is also an area where the Taliban presence is heavily felt. Some 75 Afghan eradicators were killed last year.

"There shouldn't be any no-go areas for eradication teams in Helmand, and in order to do that they are going to need more force protection," an unnamed British embassy counter-narcotics official told the Daily Mail. "Land that's controlled by major land owners, corrupt officials or major narco-figures is land that should be targeted. Having force protection is more likely to make that possible.'"
A US military spokesman told the Daily Mail there are 11 US soldiers training the Afghan Counter Narcotics Battalion in Kandahar. They will deploy along with Afghan soldiers on eradication missions, he said.

The US has long argued for stronger eradication efforts, but was rebuffed by the Karzai government when it floated the idea of aerial spraying earlier this year. But with manual eradication wiping out only 3.5% of the crop this year, pressure to do more is strong. The question is whether doing more to fight the drug trade will help or hinder the effort to build a strong, stable government in Kabul.

"This whole issue has been discussed in different forums in Afghanistan for some time now, said Sher Jah Ahmadzai, an associate at the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. "The government rejected aerial eradication for various reasons, even though it was desired by the US. But this NATO move is being welcomed by the government and the international agencies because now they are targeting the drug lords, not the farmers themselves. If you go after the farmers, it could backfire on NATO and the Afghan government, so going after the big drug lords is the viable option now. Everyone knows who they are," he said.

But not all drug lords are equal, said Ahmadzai. "There are many drug lords who are involved in the government, there are high ministers who are believed to have been drug lords before they were appointed, there are a number of people in the provincial governments who are involved, but the government is not going to go after them because that could create a backlash," he said. "But the other drug lords, the ones who are openly supporting the Taliban and Al Qaeda, they will go after them."

Only with a stronger Afghan state sometime in the future would it be feasible to actually go after all drug traffickers, said Ahmadzai. "The next phase would be strengthening the Afghan government so it can purge itself," he said.

But Ahmadzai's view is much rosier than some. Critics of the move said it would only worsen the insurgency. "The NATO governments did say they will try to target drug trafficking operations that seem to be in league with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which makes this policy shift merely unwise instead of egregiously unwise," said Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. "But pressuring NATO and the Karzai government on this simply guarantees that we will drive many people back into the arms of the Taliban, and that's a short-sighted strategy," he argued.

"The Americans have been training Afghan counter-narcotics forces, but they were creating problems for the government because they were aiming straight at the farmers, and the farmers would go straight to the Taliban," agreed Ahmadzai. "If you go after the farmers, you risk alienating them. If you don't, the Taliban and Al Qaeda profit. It's really a double-edged sword."

"The underlying problem is that the drug trade is such a huge part of the Afghan economy," said Carpenter. "The UN says there are some 509,000 families involved in growing or other aspects of the drug trade. If you just consider a standard nuclear family, that's about 15% of the population involved in the drug trade, but when you consider that Afghanistan is very much an extended family- and clan-based society, the real number is more like a third to 40% of the population earning a livelihood off the drug trade. There is no realistic way to shut that down."

There is an alternative, said Carpenter. "US policy-makers could just look the other way, ignore the drug commerce, and focus on trying to weaken the Taliban and Al Qaeda, our mortal adversaries," he said.

While that would leave the Taliban and Al Qaeda free to fund themselves from opium profits, that's a price we would have to pay, Carpenter said. "No doubt those groups derive revenue from the drug trade, but unfortunately for our strategy, so do Karzai's allies. Most major power brokers are involved in some way with the illegal drug trade. It's such a lucrative enterprise because of the black market premium that anyone who exercises power and influence in that society is tempted to get involved."

Noting that the NATO plan to go after only traffickers linked to the insurgency would in effect remove the competition for government-linked drug traffickers, Carpenter said the decision was no surprise. "I don't think that is a deliberate motive, but to the extent that the Karzai government is interested in cooperating, it will be precisely because it will eliminate the competition for those traffickers with backing in Kabul. Expecting the Kabul government to truly suppress the trade would be like asking Japan to eliminate its auto and high-tech industries. It isn't going to happen," he said.

Drug Policy and the Reform Vote in the Presidential Race
Stop The Drug War
October 12th 2008

With the presidential election now less than a month away, Democratic candidate Barack Obama appears poised for victory, according to the most recent polls, though the race is far from over. From the beginning of the campaign, drug reform and drug policy have barely registered in the discourse, a state of affairs that has grown even more pronounced as the country slips into economic crisis and the news media focuses obsessively on the two major party candidates, their campaigns, and their responses to the crisis.

The White House

Despite the silence at the presidential level, there is an emerging consensus in the country that the war on drugs is a failure -- 76% of respondents in a Zogby poll last week said so -- and there are several presidential candidates whose drug policy platforms actually appeal to drug reformers. With one major party candidate or another establishing clear leads in most states, the presidential election will be decided in a handful of battleground states, and that means drug reformers in the remaining states have the option of voting for candidates whose views resemble their own without jeopardizing the chances of their favored major party candidate.

When it comes to the basic underpinnings of US drug policy, Sens. McCain and Obama are similar, and non-reformist. When it comes to some important details, however, differences do appear. The similarities are well demonstrated by the candidates' responses to a questionnaire from the International Association of Police Chiefs about their views on drug policy, among other issues. The question and their responses are worth reading in their entirety:

"Narcotics abuse and trafficking continues to be a problem that state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers face every day. How would you ensure that enforcement, prevention, and treatment programs receive equal resources and assistance to combat this growing problem?" asked the police chiefs.

Here is McCain's response:

 

"Illegal narcotics are a scourge that I have fought against for my entire legislative career, and I believe this fight must begin with prevention and enforcement. That is why I introduced the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1988 during my first term in the Senate and supported the Drug Free Borders Act of 1999, which authorized over $1 billion in funds to bolster our ability to prevent drugs from flowing through our borders and ports by improving technology and expanding our interdiction forces. As president, I would continue these efforts to ensure that our nation's children are protected from the influence of illegal drugs and that the drug peddlers are brought to justice for their crimes.

We must also realize that treatment is an important element of the mission to eradicate drug abuse. I supported the Second Chance Act, which authorized up to $360 million for violator reentry programs in 2009 and 2010. Last year, approximately 750,000 inmates were released from custody and returned to our communities, and typically one half will return to incarceration. The Second Chance Act funds programs that prepare prisoners for the transition from prison to society by providing job training, mentors, counseling, and more. Some programs report reducing recidivism rates by 50 percent. These programs could save American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. On average, the annual cost of incarcerating a prisoner exceeds $20,000 -- a number that increased sixfold between 1982 and 2002. As president, I believe we should support having parents with children in the home rather than in prison, former prisoners working and paying taxes, and citizens contributing to rather than taking from the community."

Here is Obama's response:

"Drug trafficking has long been a scourge on our society, and we need a national drug policy that focuses on tackling new threats with tough enforcement measures while also providing for robust prevention and treatment programs. All three of these components -- enforcement, prevention, and treatment -- are critical to a complete national drug control strategy, and each will be a key part of my agenda in an Obama-Biden administration. Funding the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne-JAG) Program is essential to avoid law enforcement layoffs and cuts to hundreds of antidrug and antigang efforts across the country. The administration has consistently proposed to cut or eliminate funding for the Byrne-JAG Program, which funds antidrug and antigang task forces across the country. Byrne-JAG also funds prevention and drug treatment programs that are critical to reducing US demand for drugs. Since 2000, this program has been cut more than 83 percent. These cuts threaten hundreds of multijurisdictional drug and gang task forces -- many that took years to create and develop. In my home state of Illinois, the Byrne grants have been used effectively to fund anti-meth task forces, and I have consistently fought for increased funding for this program. As president, I will restore funding to this critical program.

Finally, it's important that we address the crime and security problems in Latin America that have clear spillover effects in the United States in terms of gang activity and drug trafficking, which is why I introduced a comprehensive plan to promote regional security in the Americas in June. I will direct my attorney general and homeland security secretary to meet with their Latin American and Caribbean counterparts in the first year of my presidency to produce a regional strategy to combat drug trafficking, domestic and transnational gang activity, and organized crime. A hemispheric pact on security, crime, and drugs will permit the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean to advance serious and measurable drug demand reduction goals, while fostering cooperation on intelligence and investigating criminal activity. The United States will also work to strengthen civilian law enforcement and judicial institutions in the region by promoting anticorruption safeguards and police reform.

I will also support the efforts of our border states to foster cooperation and constructive engagement with the region. Arizona, for instance, has entered into agreements with its neighboring Mexican state, Sonora, to cooperate on fighting border violence and drug trafficking. These agreements have led to the training of Sonora detectives to investigate wire transfers used to pay smugglers in their state; improved radio communication; and better tracking of fugitive and stolen vehicles. The Arizona-Sonora partnership -- based on information sharing, technical assistance, and training -- provides an excellent model for regional cooperation on security issues. An Obama-Biden administration will support these initiatives and will work to integrate these efforts into the region's coordinated security pact."

While the Obama and McCain campaigns differ slightly in their emphases on different drug policy-related issues, there is more similarity than difference between them. Both refer to drugs as a "scourge," both brag about their anti-drug achievements, both support US drug war objectives across the border and overseas.

But even though there is much to unite Obama and McCain on overall agreement with drug prohibition, there are differences, too, some of them significant. While neither Obama nor McCain support marijuana decriminalization, Obama once did, until he reversed position during this year's election campaign. Whether Obama's flip-flop on decrim says more about his good initial instincts or his political opportunism is open to interpretation.

Similarly, as the Sentencing Project showed in a March report on the candidates' positions on drug and criminal justice policy, while McCain has supported mandatory minimum sentences for "drug dealers," Obama in 2003 told an NAACP debate he would "vote to abolish" mandatory minimums. By this year, Obama had slightly softened his stand on mandatory minimums, saying on his web site, "I will immediately review these sentences to see where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the ineffective warehousing of nonviolent drug offenders."

Although Obama has tacked to the center (read: right) during the campaign season, other of his drug policy positions remain superior to McCain's. Obama supported lifting the ban on federal funding of needle exchanges; McCain did not address it. Obama explicitly supports drug courts; McCain does not, although he has stated he thinks too many drug users -- not drug dealers -- are in prison. Obama supported reducing the disparity between powder and crack cocaine offenders, even sponsoring a bill that would equalize sentences; McCain has not addressed the subject. Obama has said he would stop the raids on medical marijuana patients in California; McCain would not. Obama sees drug policy in the broader context of social justice; McCain has not opined on that idea.

Still, contrast Obama and McCain's drug policy positions with those of the Greens, the Libertarians, and the Ralph Nader campaign, and real differences emerge -- mainly between the bipartisan drug policy consensus and the three alternative campaigns.

For former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), now running as the Green Party presidential candidate, the Green Party platform lays out a clear drug reform agenda:

Law enforcement is placing too much emphasis on drug-related and petty street crimes, and not enough on prosecution of corporate, white collar, and environmental crimes. Defrauding someone of their life savings is the same as robbery.

Any attempt to combat crime must begin with restoration of community. We encourage positive approaches that build hope, responsibility and a sense of belonging. Prisons should be the sentence of last resort, reserved for violent criminals. Those convicted of nonviolent offenses should be handled by other programs including halfway houses, electronic monitoring, work-furlough, community service and restitution programs. Substance abuse should be addressed as a medical problem requiring treatment, not imprisonment, and a failed drug test should not result in revocation of parole. Incarcerated prisoners of the drug war should be released to the above programs.

Repeal state "Three Strikes" laws. Restore judicial discretion in sentencing, as opposed to mandatory sentencing. Stop forfeiture of the property of unconvicted suspects. It is state piracy and denial of due process.

Implement a moratorium on prison construction. The funds saved should be used for alternatives to incarceration.

We call for decriminalization of victimless crimes. For example, the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

We call for legalization of industrial hemp and all its many uses.

We call for an end to the "war on drugs." We support expanded drug counseling and treatment.

Likewise, former US Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), running as the Libertarian Party candidate, also has a strong drug reform platform:

Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. No individual, group, or government may initiate force against any other individual, group, or government. Our support of an individual's right to make choices in life does not mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices.

We support the protections provided by the Fourth Amendment to be secure in our persons, homes, and property. Only actions that infringe on the rights of others can properly be termed crimes. We favor the repeal of all laws creating "crimes" without victims, such as the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes.

Government exists to protect the rights of every individual including life, liberty and property. Criminal laws should be limited to violation of the rights of others through force or fraud, or deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Individuals retain the right to voluntarily assume risk of harm to themselves.... We oppose reduction of constitutional safeguards of the rights of the criminally accused.

American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world and its defense against attack from abroad. We would end the current US government policy of foreign intervention, including military and economic aid. We recognize the right of all people to resist tyranny and defend themselves and their rights. We condemn the use of force, and especially the use of terrorism, against the innocent, regardless of whether such acts are committed by governments or by political or revolutionary groups. [Ed: Presumably portions of this plank can be taken to have bearing on the US-imposed international drug war.]

Like the Greens and the Libertarians, the Ralph Nader campaign has a solid drug reform platform, as suggested by its title, "The Failed War on Drugs:"

The Nader campaign supports ending the war on drugs and replacing it with a health-based treatment and prevention-focused approach. Enforcement of drug laws is racially unfair, and dissolution of the drug war would begin to make the types of changes needed in our criminal justice system.

According to the federal Household Survey of drug use, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%.

The drug war has failed -- we spend nearly $50 billion annually on the drug war and yet problems related to drug abuse continue to worsen. We need to acknowledge that drug abuse is a health problem with social and economic consequences. Therefore, the solutions are -- public health, social services, economic development and tender supportive time with addicts in our depersonalized society. Law enforcement should be at the edges of drug control, not at the center. It is time to bring some currently illegal drugs within the law by regulating, taxing and controlling them. Ending the drug war will dramatically reduce street crime, violence and homicides related to underground drug dealing.

But also like the Greens and the Libertarians, Nader has virtually no chance of winning any state. Most recent presidential campaign polls don't even bother to include anyone besides Obama and McCain, and the most recent poll that included the three minor party candidates, late July Angus-Reid poll, found McKinney, Barr, and Nader combined for only 10% of the vote. Nader polled 6%, Barr 3%, and McKinney 1%.

Still, drug reformers must once again face that perennial question: Should I vote for the major party candidate who is less bad on drug policy, or should I vote for a candidate that reflects my views on this issue? Not surprisingly, there is a variety of views.

Veteran drug reformer Kevin Zeese acted as a Nader spokesman during the 2004 campaign and ran for the US Senate in Maryland as the nominee of both the Green and the Libertarian parties. He still believes third party politics is the answer, he told the Chronicle.

"Until reformers have the courage to vote for what we want why will anyone else? Neither duopoly party will end the drug war -- they are not even discussing it," he said. "The better duopolist picked a leading drug war hawk as his vice president. No doubt many will hope that Biden will pull a Nixon goes to China and reverse himself -- but that is really blind hope."

Drug reformers, especially those in non-battleground states, should send the major parties a message, said Zeese. "Voting for Obama is a true wasted vote in a non-battleground state," he said. "We know how the Electoral College will vote in 40 states. If you disagree with Obama or McCain -- why vote for them in those states? It is important for these parties to see that people are not satisfied with them. If you vote for Obama or McCain when you disagree with them then you are sending a signal of agreement. Why should he change? If you vote against them, they know they have to change in order to earn your vote."

Veteran drug reformer Cliff Thornton, who ran for the governorship of Connecticut on a drug reform platform as a Green Party candidate in 2006, agrees with Zeese. "McCain will just be more of the same, and I don't really know what Obama will do," he said. "Let's just note that Joe Biden was one of the architects of mandatory minimums. If Obama wins, I'm afraid we will have to wait for the next election to see any progress. We need to be supporting alternatives, and a vote for a Green is vote for a Green," he said.

But for Bill Piper, national affairs director for the Drug Policy Alliance Network, the lobbying arm of the Drug Policy Alliance, the differences between Obama and McCain on drug policy, while marginal, are significant. "In terms of reducing the harms associated with both drugs and drug prohibition, the difference between Obama and McCain is big," Piper argued. "Obama supports repealing the federal syringe ban, eliminating the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity, reforming mandatory minimums, and shifting resources from incarceration to treatment. McCain hasn't said anything major one way or the other about syringe exchange programs or the crack/powder disparity from what I can tell, but has publicly made fun of medical marijuana patients and introduced legislation to essentially ban methadone."

While conceding that it is difficult to predict how either Obama or McCain would govern, Piper argued that an Obama presidency is much more likely to see drug reform. "In terms of seeing a wide range of reforms at the federal level over the next eight years, it seems far more likely to happen under Obama than McCain," he said.

Not likely, retorted Zeese. "Biden will be whispering drug war nonsense in his ears, and his past use of marijuana and cocaine will be reasons that stop him from doing anything sensible," he predicted. "The best we can hope for from Obama is benign neglect. There will be many other domestic and international crises for them to deal with so drug policy will not be high on their agenda -- that is good news -- because Biden is the source of most of what is wrong with modern drug policy. Hopefully, he is kept busy doing something else."

And, said Piper, Obama is not talking about ending drug prohibition, dismantling the prison-industrial complex, and putting violent drug trafficking organizations out of business. "Only Barr, Nader, and McKinney are talking about major reform. They're speaking for the 76% of Americans who say the war on drugs has failed. But they've been excluded from the debates and are largely being ignored by the media. I know a lot of drug policy reformers who are voting for one of them. I know a lot, probably more, who are voting for Obama, and some who are voting for McCain."

Who drug reformers should vote for remains a tricky, personal question, said Piper. "There are a lot of variables to consider, including weighing the possibility of important, short-term incremental gains against the need for long-term systematic change; pondering the question of whether or not change on the margin facilitates or obstructs major change; deciding if the drug war should be the only issue you vote on or just one of many; thinking about the political and cultural changes that have to occur to bring down prohibition and how this election fits into that; considering what state you live in; and wrestling with your conscience," he said, ticking off the issues confronting drug reform voters. "I don't think there is one right answer."

(This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

Salvia Divinorum: US Military Bases in England, Okinawa Say No to Sally D
News2020.com
September 28th 2008

Britain's Drug War Not Working, Think-Tank Finds' now there's a supprise, still keeps them in work eh !!!
DRCNet
August 1st 2008

Traditional drug war law enforcement tactics have not worked in Britain, according to research released Wednesday by the UK Drug Policy Commission. The commission is a non-governmental body that lists among its objectives providing "independent and objective analysis of UK drug policy."

In the study, Tackling drug markets and distribution networks in the UK: a review of the recent literature, the researchers reported that British drug markets are "extremely resilient" and that increasing seizures of drugs had had little impact at the street level. Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year on drug enforcement, "there is remarkably little evidence of its effectiveness in disrupting markets and reducing availability," the authors concluded.

"We were struck by just how little evidence there is to show that the hundreds of millions of pounds spent on UK enforcement each year has made a sustainable impact and represents value for money, and no published material to allow comparisons of different enforcement approaches," said Tim McSweeney, one of the authors of the review.

"All enforcement agencies aim to reduce drug harms and most have formed local partnerships to do this, but they still tend to be judged by measures of traditional supply-side activity such as seizure rates," said the commission's David Blakey. "This is a pity as it is very difficult to show that increasing drug seizures actually leads to less drug-related harm. Of course, drug dealers must be brought to justice, but we should recognize and encourage the wider role that the police and other law enforcement officials can play in reducing the impact of drug markets on our communities."

Still, the authors of the report suggested that law enforcement does have a role to play, particularly in focusing on drug markets with the most "collateral damage," such as gang violence, human trafficking, and drug-related criminality. Police need to work closely with local communities, the authors said, as well as recognizing the unintended and unanticipated consequences of enforcement measures, such as a "crackdown" that merely moves dealers to nearby neighborhoods.

Southwest Asia: Former US Anti-Drug Official Accuses Afghan Government of Complicity in Drug Trade -- US and NATO Not Doing Much Either, He Complains
DrugwarChronicles
July 27th 2008

Former State Department official Thomas Schweich, who was the US government's point man in the effort to wipe out the opium and heroin trade in Afghanistan until last month, has accused Afghan President Hamid Karzai of protecting drug traffickers and obstructing anti-drug efforts in an article to be published in the New York Times magazine on Sunday, but which appeared on the newspaper's web site Wednesday night.

"While it is true that Karzai's Taliban enemies finance themselves from the drug trade, so do many of his supporters," Schweich wrote. "Narco-corruption went to the top of the Afghan government," he wrote, adding that drug traffickers were buying off hundreds of police chiefs, judges and other officials. Schweich accused Karzai of resisting heightened anti-drug efforts and opposing the eradication of opium poppy fields, long a dream of US drug warriors.

"Karzai was playing us like a fiddle," Schweich wrote. "The US and its allies would fight the Taliban; Karzai's friends could get rich off the drug trade; he could blame the West for his problems; and in 2009 he would be elected to a new term."

The Karzai government wasn't the only problem, Schweich wrote. He criticized both the US military and NATO forces for indifference, if not outright hostility, toward the anti-drug battle and argued that failing to cut Taliban profits from the drug trade means fighting could continue indefinitely.

"The trouble is that the fighting is unlikely to end as long as the Taliban can finance themselves through drugs -- and as long as the Kabul government is dependent on opium to sustain its own hold on power," he said.

Almost everyone is to blame for the Afghan drug mess, the now-retired drug warrior fumed. "An odd cabal of timorous Europeans, myopic media outlets, corrupt Afghans, blinkered Pentagon officers, politically motivated Democrats and the Taliban were preventing the implementation of an effective counter-drug program," he said.

In a Thursday press conference in Kabul, Karzai rejected Schweich's charges."As I had said two years ago, Afghanistan never takes the blame (for the drugs threat). The Afghan nation due to desperation, war... has been forced to resort to this issue," Karzai replied when asked to respond to Schweich's comments. "Without doubt, some Afghans are drugs smugglers, but majority of them are the international mafia who do not live in Afghanistan," he said.

Afghanistan produces more than 90% of the world's opium. Production has expanded dramatically since the US invaded and overthrew the Taliban in late 2001.

MAPS News July 18th 2008--NIDA Delays Vaporizer Research, Averts MAPS Lawsuit

Dear Eugene,

There’s heaps of exciting news to report this month. Here's what's going on:

1. MAPS’ Board of Directors Decide to Expand MDMA/PTSD Research
2. NIDA Delays Vaporizer Research, Averts MAPS Lawsuit
3. Donald Abrams’ Clinical Medical Marijuana Study Seeking Pain Patients
4. MAPS First US MDMA/PTSD Study Achingly Close to Completion
5. Libra Foundation Donates $25,000 for U.S. MDMA/PTSD Research
6. Potential Sites for Future MAPS MDMA/PTSD Studies Visited in France and Spain Larger Dose Tested in Swiss MDMA/PTSD Study
7. Second LSD Session in Swiss LSD/end-of-life Anxiety Study Completed
8. Dr. Halpern Submits Protocol Changes for MDMA/Cancer Anxiety Study at Harvard
9. Opportunity to Subsidize Publication of Ayahausca Book by Bia Labate
10. Johns Hopkins Research Team Publishes Follow-Up Report on Psilocybin/Spirituality Study and Guidelines for Hallucinogen Research
11. Article by Martin Lee on James Ketchum’s US Army Mind-Control Research
12. You Still Have a Chance to Win Glassware Signed By Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin
13. MAPS Will Appear at Psychedelic Summer Festivals—Volunteers Wanted
14. Invitation to Camp at Entheon Village with MAPS Staff at Burning Man
15. MAPS Welcomes New Communications and Marketing Director Randy Hencken
16. Farewell From Guest Editor David Jay Brown

* * * Dues-paying MAPS members are empowering staff, scientists, and volunteers to carry out pioneering research and educational projects. To donate, learn about the benefits of MAPS membership, or purchase books, clothes, art, and other merchandise, visit: www.maps.org/catalog * * *

1. MAPS’ Board of Directors Decide to Expand MDMA/PTSD Research:

MAPS’ annual Board of Directors meeting took place from June 14-June 15, shortly after the end of MAPS’ Fiscal Year on May 31, 2008. Board members John Gilmore, Ashawna Hailey, and Rick Doblin reviewed the exciting and fruitful year together. Doblin spoke later on the phone with Marybeth Home, the fourth Board member, to obtain her input on what had been discussed. After reviewing the past twelve months, the board members considered this past year to be MAPS’ most successful year ever. MAPS had an annual income this year of roughly $1.65 million and expenses of roughly $1.4 million, and we made progress on a wide range of important projects.

A key decision was made by the Board about MDMA/PTSD research. The data that MAPS has been receiving from the U.S. MDMA/PTSD study has been so promising that the board members have decided to move ahead and expand the research further, to develop MDMA into a prescription medicine. We had previously been thinking that we would wait to compare the data from the MDMA/PTSD research with data from the psychedelic/ end-of-life anxiety research before deciding which patient population to prioritize. It’s now clear that the data from the MDMA/PTSD study is so promising that it deserves to go forward, independently of whether we later decide to move forward with the psychedelic/end-of-life anxiety studies.

The Harvard MDMA/cancer-anxiety study (PDF), our Swiss LSD/end-of-life anxiety study (PDF), and our proposed psilocybin/cancer anxiety study are all progressing more slowly than we’d anticipated. Depending on the results, we may decide at some future point to go forward, to expand those studies as well, but right now we’re just in the early Phase 2 stage of those studies.

Because of the successes of the past, MAPS is now looking forward with a clearer view on what it will take to develop psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medicines. Also, because MAPS is in it for the long-run, the Board has approved adding retirement benefits to the package of benefits offered to MAPS staff.

MAPS is planning ahead of time for growth, because if a Democratic president is elected in the next election, then research might be prioritized over politics, and the DEA might issue a license to Professor Craker for marijuana cultivation, breaking the U.S. government’s monopoly on selling marijuana for research. If Senator Obama is elected and follows through on his statement that the medical marijuana issue should be resolved through scientific research, MAPS will have to figure out how to build the organization so that we can simultaneously handle multiple drug development efforts, and carry forward with our ambitious goals.

2. NIDA Delays Vaporizer Research, Averts MAPS Lawsuit:

On June 18th, after a five month review process, the National Institute of Drug Abuse-Public Health Service (NIDA-PHS) finally responded to our revised vaporizer research protocol, submitted for review January 16, 2008. The submission included three supportive letters from peer-reviewers, confirming the scientific merit of the study and urging NIDA-PHS to approve it. By responding, NIDA/PHS avoided MAPS filing another lawsuit for unreasonable delay, which we’d intended to file in the middle of August.

MAPS has still been waiting two years and nine months for NIDA/PHS to respond to our September 2005 reply (PDF) to their rejection of our previous vaporizer protocol (PDF), which we initially submitted in June 2003, after which it took them more than two years to evaluate! We submitted the revised protocol in January 2008 to see if that might motivate NIDA to respond, which it has.

According to Rick, “The review is filled with issues designed to delay and exhaust us, that have little importance to the safety or relevance of the intended research, but I don't think it will deter us for too long. We'll respond thoroughly and quickly before the end of July, and then wait yet again for a reply. Now that NIDA/PHS are familiar with the issues and have articulated their concerns, their response to our comments should be faster. We're already making progress in that the strategy of delay has been overcome and a review was issued.”

If this situation weren’t so genuinely tragic for all the sick people who might benefit from this research, then it would simply appear ridiculous. All MAPS is requesting to do is purchase ten grams of marijuana--something virtually any high school student in the US could obtain--so that we can move forward with a study of a non-smoking delivery system for marijuana that might benefit people suffering from a wide range of debilitating, difficult-to-treat illnesses.

“The FDA has thirty days to review complicated human protocols. With NIDA/PHS’s dysfunctional review process, they have provided us with powerful evidence for why we need to break the NIDA monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can be used in research,” said Doblin.

MAPS has been waiting since February 12, 2007 for the DEA to issue a final ruling in response to DEA Administrative Law Judge Bittner’s recommendation (PDF) that the NIDA monopoly on the production of marijuana legal for research be ended, and that Professor Lyle Craker be issued a DEA license for a MAPS-sponsored medical marijuana production facility.

3. Donald Abrams’ Clinical Medical Marijuana Study Seeking Pain Patients:

As mentioned in the May update, MAPS is now covering all transportation, lodging and food expenses for subjects in Dr. Donald Abrams’ medical marijuana and opiate interaction study at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Abram’s study, which is being sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), is designed to evaluate whether or not patients who are using the opiate drugs Oxycontin or MS Contin (or Kadian) for pain will receive less benefit if the drugs are used in conjunction with marijuana administered by a vaporizer. Although NIDA doesn’t realize it, this is a very good example of the benefits of cooperation between NIDA and MAPS since we’re helping a NIDA study to succeed by using MAPS funds to supplement a NIDA grant.

This is one of only two active studies currently underway in the United States in which marijuana is being given to patients. (The second study is in MS patients). Dr. Abrams’ research--which will include twenty-four subjects and is still seeking nine more--will provide clinical evidence to help evaluate whether cannabis, when added to conventional narcotic pain drugs, will reduce the effectiveness of the opiates, or can provide added relief and thereby allow reduced doses of these narcotics.

The study is taking place at the San Francisco General Hospital and requires a five-day inpatient stay.

To learn more about the study, read the recruitment information here (PDF). If you would like additional information, please call (415) 476-9554, ext. 315, or e-mail pcouey@php.ucsf.edu.

4. MAPS First US MDMA/PTSD Study Achingly Close to Completion:

After four years and one million dollars, Michael Mithoefer’s U.S. MDMA/PTSD study is achingly close to being completed. On June 20th, subjects # 18 and # 19 completed their final follow-up evaluations, two months after their last experimental MDMA sessions. On July 1, subject # 20 completed the final two-month evaluation. MAPS Clinical Research team collected all current data at a recent site visit last weekend and brought it safely back to MAPS headquarters. All that now remains to complete the study is for subject # 21 to have her third and final experimental session scheduled for July 18th, and then for her to complete the two month follow-up after that in the middle of September. Then the study will be finished and we’ll analyze the data, prepare a report to the FDA, write a scientific paper for submission to a peer-reviewed journal for publication, and start planning further studies with this team.

5. MAPS Receives $25,000 from Libra Foundation for US MDMA/PTSD Research:

MAPS received a $25,000 donation from The Libra Foundation to enable Michael and Annie Mithoefer to write up the results of our US MDMA/PTSD study, refine the treatment manual, develop the training program, and travel to conferences and share the results of their study with their colleagues. We would like to express our deep appreciation to the Libra Foundation for this generous donation.

We’re seeking an additional $50,000 to cover the rest of the post-study expenses, as we lay the foundation for Phase 3 studies.

6. Potential Sites for Future MAPS MDMA/PTSD Studies Visited in France and Spain:

MAPS Clinical Research Associates Valerie Mojeiko and Josh Sonstroem conducted site visits in Lyon, France and Barcelona, Spain, to meet with researchers interested in conducting MAPS-sponsored MDMA/PTSD studies (MDMA/PTSD Treatment Manual (PDF)) .

In Barcelona, the team met with Dr. Jordi Riba, MD and Psychologist Jose Carlos Bouso, PhD. MAPS’ first MDMA/PTSD study started in Madrid, Spain in 2000, under the direction of Jose Carlos Bouso. Unfortunately, this study was shut down in 2002 as a result of pressure from the Madrid Anti-Drug Authority. We’d like to renew MDMA/PTSD research in Spain, both as a symbol that we’ve overcome the political suppression of scientific research and because we need to treat more subjects.

Mojeiko and Sonstroem also traveled to Lyon, France to meet with researchers interested in conducting a study there. This hospital was promising and seems equipped to do this type of research, but the researchers are still in early negotiations with hospital administrators about whether they are ready to pursue a study with MAPS.


7. Larger Dose Tested in Swiss MDMA/PTSD Study:

The second session for the first non-responder in Dr. Peter Oehen, MD’s Swiss MDMA/PTSD study took place on July 3rd. MAPS is currently testing different modifications of the protocol design in our different MDMA/PTSD studies. In the Swiss study we’re testing the use of a slightly larger dose in non-responders, 150 milligrams, followed by a supplemental dose of 75 milligrams. The larger doses were well-tolerated, with no problematic blood pressure increases. According to Dr. Oehen, the patient made some progress, although he suspects that the progress may be due primarily to having received additional MDMA sessions. The second non-responder will have her additional sessions in August and September. Three more patients are waiting for screening.

8. Second LSD Session in Swiss LSD/end-of-life Anxiety Study Completed:

On June 27th, Dr. Peter Gasser conducted the second and final LSD session with the first subject in our Swiss/LSD end-of-life anxiety study. We’re investigating LSD-assisted psychotherapy in twelve subjects suffering from anxiety associated with advanced-stage cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. After the experimental session, the patient made some beneficial life changes including intensifying his social contacts and going back to school. We are looking forward to seeing if his positive shift will be captured in the data.

MAPS has raised $125,000 of the $225,000 cost for this study—so we still have $100,000 left to accept from those who want to be a part of this historic study.

9. Dr. Halpern Submits Protocol Changes for MDMA/Cancer Anxiety Study at Harvard:

Dr. Halpern has submitted a series of protocol changes to his Institutional Review Board (IRB) for his MDMA/cancer-anxiety study that will facilitate enrollment and completion of the study. So far, just one subject has been enrolled and completed the study, with promising results. Dr. Halpern is trying to open the study up to enrollment from subjects who are from all over the country, instead of just subjects from one oncologist, who will still evaluate all patients. Dr. Halpern is also seeking permission to offer an optional open-label Stage 2 series of two MDMA sessions to people who were randomized for the low-dose placebo in the first round of the study. According to MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD, these protocol changes are “the key having a study that’s got tremendous promise, but is going too slowly, to having a study that could live up to its promise.” These protocol changes will take about three months or so to be reviewed, and hopefully approved, by two IRBs and the FDA.

10. Opportunity to Subsidize Publication of Ayahausca Book by Bia Labate:

MAPS has agreed to donate $2000 towards the publication of several essays and a bibliography of scientific papers about the religious use of the Amazonian shamanic brew ayahuasca and is ready to accept an additional $2000 from a donor who wants to support education about ayahuasca. The book was edited by Bia Labate and it contains scientific articles and a bibliography of papers about ayahausca, as well as other resources. Supporters will be commemorated on the title page. MAPS is seeking to raise a total of $3500 to supplement the $2000 that we’re donating to cover the publication costs for 2000 copies. The Trance Foundation has donated $1000 and Julian Babcock has donated $500 so far. MAPS has previously donated $1500 toward the costs of translating the book, which has been published in Portuguese. Richard Wolfe and The Cottonwood Foundation have also already donated $1500 each toward the translation expenses.

11. Johns Hopkins Research Team Publishes Follow-Up Report on Psilocybin Study and Hallucinogen Guidelines

Researchers Roland Griffiths, PhD, Bill Richards, PhD, Matt Johnson, PhD, and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University published two papers this month in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, one entitled "Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later” and "Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety.” The first paper is a follow-up report to their 2006 study, “Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance." (PDF)

The second paper basically outlines 'how-to' recommendations for conducting high dose hallucinogen trials, and how to manage the associated risks.

The psilocybin/mystical experience study was primarily funded by the Council on Spiritual Practices. Bob Jesse, founder of the Council on Spiritual Practices, has recently sent out a fundraising letter seeking support for further research in healthy volunteers.

MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD submitted a comment to Google News about the recently published paper that followed up on the 2006 psilocybin study entitled “Psychedelic Mysticism and Psychedelic Medicine: Here for Good.”

From our perspective, the most amazing media coverage of the study was an editorial (not just an article or op-ed) in the Baltimore Sun (MAPS permalink) endorsing the renewal of psychedelic research and citing both Roland’s psilocybin/mystical experience study and MAPS’ US MDMA/PTSD study!

Here's a key quote, “Instead of continuing a policy of fear and loathing, the government is now open to the possibility that this class of drugs may have uses that don't involve turning on, tuning in and dropping out.”

Here's the conclusion that by extension also applies to medical marijuana, “Instead of banning drugs that are perceived as bad simply because of their recreational use, scientists should be encouraged to pursue legitimate study--lest we miss out on a valuable medicinal tool.”

The editorial raises the possibility that MDMA could help U.S. vets returning from Iraq. This editorial--in a leading newspaper in a major US city—signifies that a significant cultural shift is taking place.

12. Article by Martin Lee on James Ketchum’s US Army Mind-Control Research:

There is a fascinating article by Martin A. Lee (author of Acid Dreams) (MAPS permalink) in the July issue of Cannabis Culture magazine about James Ketchum, MD, a retired army colonel and psychiatrist, who ran a US government-sponsored program in the 1960s, testing an unusually potent form of synthetic THC (one of the psychoactive components of marijuana) on soldiers in an attempt to develop a secret military weapon.

The article details an interesting slice of history that very few people are familiar with, and paints a portrait of a complex and fascinating man who is difficult to pigeonhole. The article discusses Ketchum’s membership and fundraising activities with MAPS, and how he praised the work that MAPS is doing. Ketchum is the author of Chemical Warfare: Secrets Almost Forgotten. A personal story of medical testing of Army volunteers with incapacitating chemical agents during the Cold War (1955-1975). The book has a foreword by Alexander Shulgin and is available on the MAPS Website.

13. You Still Have a Chance to Win Glassware Signed By Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin:

Since we see so much potential in allowing our members a chance to sign up their friends for MAPS membership, we are extending our membership drive for one more month until August 15. We will be holding a raffle for people who bring in new MAPS members, with a chance to win glassware from Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin’s lab signed by the legendary chemist. For each friend who becomes a MAPS member before August 15th as a result of your recommendation, you will be given one ticket into a drawing to win a signed piece of glassware, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. Just tell your friend(s) to let us know you suggested that they become a MAPS member by mentioning your name in the notes field if they join on-line, or by mentioning your name if they call the office or join by mail.

If you are the person to sign up the most members, MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD would like to personally thank you by flying you to Boston for dinner!

MAPS needs to grow in order to fund our promising research studies. The psychedelic research renaissance, and our struggle to conduct medical marijuana research, has come this far thanks to you and others like you. And our continued success depends on this community effort. To participate, go to: www.maps.org/donate

14. MAPS Will Appear at Psychedelic Summer Festivals—Volunteers Wanted:

MAPS received a generous $5000 donation from Seth Hollub for purchasing a shade structure and banners and covering some expenses for MAPS to have a table at a number of festivals this summer, in order to further enhance our outreach efforts. We did a pilot test at Harmony Festival this Spring that went really well. MAPS is planning to have booths this summer at Earthdance, Emerge-N-See, and Shambhala Festivals, and perhaps other festivals. If you are planning to be at any of these events and are interested in volunteering at the table please contact our new Outreach Coordinator Jenwynn at:

15. Invitation to Camp at Entheon Village with MAPS Staff at Burning Man:

As we’ve mentioned before, you are all invited to come and camp with us at Burning Man Festival this year, in Entheon Village. MAPS is coordinating a lecture series about psychedelic research which will take place at Entheon Village. It looks like it’s going to be another exciting year. MAPS staff will be participating this year in creating the third incarnation of Entheon Village at Burning Man. This camp was first established in 2006 for MAPS' 20th Anniversary (which was also Burning Man's 20th Anniversary). Entheon Village will have a different focus this year than in the prior two years, when the emphasis was on offering a wide range of experiences in art, science and spirituality (the fruits of psychedelics) to the larger Burning Man community. This year, Entheon will focus instead on enhancing the communal living experience for the people at Entheon Village. The camp will offer an organic, vegan meal plan with meat option, communal eating and gathering spaces, showers, potties, etc. It will be located off the Esplanade and closer to Center Camp. Entheon also plans to forgo all-night music and dance parties, but will still offer, in a large dome and other structures, music and dancing, a lecture series, holotropic breathwork, and other activities. Entheon Village will also include the zendo for meditation. For more information, and to register to camp at Entheon Village, see the Entheon Village Web site.

16. MAPS Welcomes New Communications and Marketing Director Randy Hencken:

MAPS is delighted to welcome Randy Hencken to the MAPS community. On July 7th, Randy became the new MAPS Director of Communication and Marketing. Randy has a Bachelors of Science in business management, and a master’s degree from San Diego State University’s (SDSU) School of Communication. Randy developed a profound understanding of the potential, and the risks, of psychedelic psychotherapy in his job as program coordinator at the Ibogaine Association in Mexico, prior to his return to academics.

Randy is passionate about drug policy reform and is the founder and president of SDSU’s chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). He recently organized a demonstration and press conference in San Diego with SSDP that reframed the media’s perspective on a recent heavy-handed DEA raid at SDSU, and called into question whether or not the drug bust would have any effect on drug abuse problems at the university. Randy also interned for the Drug Policy Alliance in San Diego. Welcome Randy!

17. Farewell From Guest Editor David Jay Brown:

This isn’t really a farewell, as I’ll still be working with MAPS. However, now that MAPS has found an excellent new Communications and Marketing Director (to replace Jag Davies, who went to work for the ACLU last November), I’ll be bowing offstage, and Randy Hencken will be taking over and writing these monthly email news updates from now on.

Working with everyone at MAPS these past eight months have been a real joy, inspiring and educational. I’ve long admired Rick Doblin’s near-miraculous ability to communicate across great cultural divides, to patiently and persistently navigate his way through bureaucratic mazes and blockades--that appeared impassable even to the Hindu deity Ganesh--and to make the seemingly impossible happen with psychedelic research. I was really happy to be able to work so close with him and everyone else at MAPS these past few months. Although I’ll be leaving you all in Randy’s very capable hands, this certainly won’t be the last that MAPS members will be seeing of me. I’ll be editing the MAPS Bulletin this summer, and I’ll also be organizing and editing a special edition of the Bulletin next Spring on ecology and psychedelics. (Please contact me if you would be interested in contributing: davidjay@maps.org)

I’m grateful to have had this time with everyone at MAPS and will continue my alliance with this dedicated team of public policy reformers and researchers until therapeutic psychedelic experiences are legally available to all who need them. I think that our planet is currently in a deep ecological and spiritual crisis, and that there isn’t a whole lot of time left to save our biosphere from serious damage. I’ve personally witnessed how psychedelic experiences can psychologically transform people, how those very human traits that seem to be at the root of our problems as a species--ecological blindness, greed, ego-centeredness, rigid belief systems, fear, prejudice, anger, pain, etc.--can transform into a greter sense of compassion, empathy, and ecological awareness. Personally, I don’t know of anything else besides psychedelics that can so consistently and so completely transform people, in such positive, healthy ways, so quickly--over night, like Scrooge in The Christmas Carol. This knowledge motivates me, and it’s why I believe so strongly in what MAPS is doing.

Puerto Rico Ex-Officials Say Legalize It
DrugWarChronicles
July 1st 2008

A former health secretary and an ex-university president are calling for the legalization of marijuana in Puerto Rico in a bid to reduce the prison population and prevent young people from being exposed to criminality. According to a report by the Associated Press late last week, their plan to tax marijuana sales, with proceeds going to drug treatment programs, is also supported by other former public officials and a medical doctor.

"The fight against drugs, using punishment, has not worked," said José Manuel Saldaña, former president of the University of Puerto Rico. "This is a social reality." People should not go to jail for smoking pot, he added.

According to the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections, 24% of the island territory's 13,500 inmates are doing time for drug offenses. The department estimates that 80% of crimes are "drug-related." More than 21,000 minors under age 18 were arrested in "drug-related" incidents between 1990 and 2005, according to police statistics.

The proposal for marijuana legalization comes as part of a broader package that includes tougher penalties for drug traffickers. It comes as the island is getting ready to begin drug treatment programs aimed primarily at the abuse of heroin and crack cocaine.

Saldaña was joined by former Health Secretary Enrique Vázquez Quintana in pushing for legalization. They have been discussing the proposal with prison officials and legislators, he said.

But lawmakers have said they only want to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes -- if that. Corrections Secretary Miguel Pereira told the AP he favors drug treatment programs legalizing marijuana, but only for medicinal, not recreational, use. "It's a proposal that we should be open to discussing," he said.

OVERKILL
StoptheDrugWar.org
June 21st 2008

Two recent incidents involving SWAT teams are adding fuel to the fire in the emerging controversy over the routine use of such paramilitarized police units to prosecute the drug war. In Chicago, the Chicago Police Department has been hit with a $10 million lawsuit over a September raid on a social club. Meanwhile, in Florida, the Pembroke Pines Police Department Special Response Team, a SWAT-style unit, shot and killed a 46-year-old homeowner in a dawn raid June 13 that netted a whopping three-quarters of an ounce of marijuana.

(There is even more trouble on the SWAT front. Read StoptheDrugWar.org blogger Scott Morgan's post about the murder prosecution of raid victim Derrick Foster and the killing of raid victim Ronald Terebesi, Jr., here. StoptheDrugWar.org is committed to ending these abuses. Sign our online petition here.)

In the Chicago raid, raw video of which is available here (part one) and here (part two), Chicago SWAT team officers dressed as if heading for combat in Baghdad hit the La Familia Motorcycle Club as it was being used for a birthday party. Officers exploded stun grenades, pointed assault weapons at people cowering in hallways, and, according to the attorney who filed the lawsuit, did so without producing a search warrant.

Attorney George Becker said police also stole $1,500 from amusement machines and $1,000 from a safe they broke open during the raid. Becker also said five women at the club were strip-searched by female officers in front of male officers and club patrons. Becker said those parts of the raid were not recorded because officers pointed surveillance cameras at the ceiling.

"It looked to me like the Chicago Police Department is engaging in military-type activity," said Becker after showing the raid video.

But police are unrepentant. "We believe the officers acted within department guidelines in executing the legal search warrant," Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Although police said an informant had told them a shipment of drugs was destined for the building, they seized only a small quantity of drugs and one hand-gun. Two arrests were made -- one on a bond forfeiture warrant and one for reckless conduct.

Police in Pembroke Pines, Florida, are also unrepentant about their SWAT raid that left Victor Hodgkiss dead. Police have released few details about what exactly went down during the dawn raid, except to say they he was shot and killed after confronting them as they entered his home on a no-knock drug search warrant. The raid netted one arrest -- of the girlfriend of Hodgkiss's son, who was charged with possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.

"We use SRT for all narcotics warrants," Pembroke Pines Deputy Police Chief David Golt told Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel columnist Mike Mayo, who wrote a scathing column denouncing the reflexive resort to SWAT-style tactics. "You never know what you're going to encounter."

As Mayo noted in his column: "In this case, a 46-year-old man with a concealed weapons permit and no record of violent crime encountered his demise in his home of 14 years."

Police did not say whether Hodgkiss was armed when he was shot, but they did say they recovered a weapon from the home.

The Hodgkiss killing bears eerie similarities with another Florida SWAT killing, the 2005 shooting death of Philip Diotaiuto, a 23-year-old bartender shot 10 times by officers after he grabbed a gun as they burst into his home in a dawn raid that netted little over an ounce of marijuana. No charges were ever filed against those officers, but a civil suit filed by Diotaiuto's family is pending.

In both cases, police were aware their target had a weapons permit and used that to justify their resort to SWAT team tactics. In both cases, people ended up being killed over trivial amounts of marijuana.

SWAT team policing excesses are nothing new, but seem to be on the upswing as the units, originally designed for hostage and other dangerous situations, are increasingly used routinely for drug search warrants and other law enforcement purposes. The Cato Institute's Radley Balko has compiled the primary source book for SWAT killings and other abuses, 2006's Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America.

 

 

 

$70 Billion a Year for Drug Laws While Predators Remain Free
Erin Hildebrandt Salem-News.com
May 26th 2008

Outdated drug laws intended to lock non-violent offenders in jail results in more leeway and fewer arrests for violent criminals and predators.

Police in Hollywood and the DEA teamed up to close down a legal medical marijuana dispensary in Hollywood, California. The photo almost appears to be from another time; when the protesters and the media were on one side of the line and the police stood firmly on the other. Today some police are seeing it differently, these just aren't them. Photos by Shay Sowden and LAist

(SALEM, Ore.) - Imagine a town, somewhere in the United States. At the local police station, Officer Joe is pouring himself a cup of coffee at the start of his shift, when a call comes in. A citizen thinks she smells marijuana coming from her neighbor’s house.

Joe proceeds to respond to the call, driving the 30 or so odd miles to the house. Just then, another call comes in. An armed man has taken 27 children hostage at the local elementary school – now 25 miles away from Joe’s location.

In this extreme example, there can be no doubt that Joe should abandon his investigation of the marijuana smell and proceed immediately to the school. No officer in his right mind would consider putting children’s lives at risk, in order to pursue the smell of cannabis, would he?

But on a larger scale, when we fund drug enforcement to the tune of 70 billion dollars every year, we are effectively putting lives at risk by not funding other important police work.

Officers are only charged with enforcing the laws that “we the people,” through our legislators enact, and according to the priorities these legislators reflect through their funding of all of the various departments of law enforcement. We must demand that our leaders choose to prioritize the health and safety of our nation’s communities, over policing the personal morals of the citizens of the “Land of the Free.”

As a nation, we’ve lost sight of the forest for the trees. We’ve charged law enforcement officers with the awesome responsibility of not only preventing violent crime and apprehending violent criminals, but we’ve further empowered them to act as the morality police, saving America from the evils of everything from cigarette smoke to cannabis to sex toys to, of all the crazy things – certain kinds of fat! Where does it end?

The U.S. currently incarcerates more people for non-violent crimes, than for violent crimes. We lock up more of our citizens per capita than any other nation, even Russia, China and Cuba. Yet, according to national data from the FBI for 2006, the clearance rate for all violent crime was an abysmal 44.3%. Our current approach is not working. In all of this often politically-driven chaos, our priorities have been perverted.

It’s time to reprioritize.

For decades we’ve waged a “War on Drugs,” supposedly designed to prevent and deter the abuse of ten substances through their prohibition. Instead of encouraging our citizens to abide by the laws of the land, this war on some drugs encourages entrepreneurial anarchy in a game “won” by survival of the most corrupt and callously capitalistic.

It has driven the major funding for organized crime and terrorism, created and maintains a black market so enormous that it rivals the wealthiest industries on Earth, and which has become directly responsible for far too much of the vigilante violence in our communities. It encourages everyone who would dare to taste the forbidden fruit to live outside of, and develop disrespect and disregard for, the laws of our land.

Instead of seeing heroes among police officers, suburbanites like me grow up to become adults who fear law enforcement. We view them as potential threats, terrorizing patients who need medical marijuana and pursuing and persecuting cannabis consumers, while child rapists are given slaps on the wrist – some never spending a single day in jail, even for raping multiple children. And that only includes the small percentage of predators that are caught.

Additionally, NIDA reports indicate that survivors of sexual assault are 4-10 times more likely to abuse illegal drugs, than those who do not suffer abuse. Incarcerating non-violent survivors of rape for using drugs to self-medicate anxiety, depression and other symptoms of PTSD, while allowing their perpetrators to roam our streets with impunity, does not make us safer.

A legislator once challenged me on the issue of medical marijuana. He said that he didn’t want to support an amendment to a funding bill which would have protected medical marijuana patients. His reason for objecting, however, surprised me. He said that he didn’t want to single out marijuana from every other medicine. He wanted to see all drugs regulated equally.

This makes perfect sense to me. As a patient with Crohn’s Disease, who relies on medical marijuana to ease severe symptoms, I couldn’t really argue with his logic. I could only ask him whether he felt it would be a wise investment of our scarce resources to send the DEA to break down my door, terrorize my five young children, and haul me off to jail, just for taking my medicine? He had to admit that would be a very poor use of our resources, and I’m thrilled to say he’s supported the Rohrabacher - Hinchey Medical Marijuana Amendment for four years in a row.

I keep coming back to that meeting with the Congressman in my mind, because I’d very much like to see his vision come to fruition. By regulating all drugs equally, effectively ending prohibition once and for all, we could accomplish what the originators of prohibition first promised – actually reducing drug abuse and violent crime in our nation.

No longer can we afford to funnel tens of billions of dollars annually into a “War on Drugs,” which effectively ensures the perpetual funding of organized crime and terrorism. We must not waste the precious time of our law enforcement officers in chasing down the sick and dying who need medical marijuana, while child rapists roam our communities, knowing that their chances of even getting caught, let alone doing any time in prison, are very low.

Do we want to cut crime in our nation by half?

Do we want to eliminate drug dealing overnight?

Do we want our police officers spending our scarce resources to pursue people who prefer cannabis to cocktails, or do we have more important work for them to do?

It all comes down to our priorities.

To learn more about prohibition and why “cops say legalize drugs,” please visit: LEAP.cc.

Another site worth visiting on this subject is: medicalcannabis.com.

For more information about medical marijuana and prohibition, please visit: ParentsEndingProhibition.org (currently undergoing revision).

Erin Hildebrandt wears many hats. She's wife to Bill Hildebrandt, mom to five beautiful kids, activist, artist, legally registered Oregon medical marijuana patient, public speaker, and an internationally published writer. She co-founded Parents Ending Prohibition, and her writing has been printed in Mothering Magazine, New York's Newsday, and Canada's National Post, among many others. Erin has been interviewed for a front page story in USA Today, and she has been published in the American Bar Association Journal. Speaking as a survivor of child sexual abuse, Erin also appeared on the Geraldo Rivera show. She has also testified before Oregon Senate and House committees, and Maryland Senate and House committees. We are very pleased to feature the work of Erin Hildebrandt on Salem-News.com.

 

 

Vietnam Ponders Drug Decriminalization
News2020.com
May 17th 2008

The Vietnamese National Assembly is considering legislation