Drug War Chronicle, Issue #502 -(urls+editorial)- 9/21/07

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

Massive increases to our web site traffic have increased our
costs -- will you help us continue it?
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/massive_increases_in_web_site_traffic_have_increased_our_costs

Students: Intern at DRCNet to help stop the drug war!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war

Table of Contents:

1. EDITORIAL: SOMETIMES THE DRUG WAR MAKES ME DIZZY
Early drug prohibitionists probably didn't have today's drug war
in mind when they set world drug policy on the course it still
follows today. If they could see it all, it would probably make
them dizzy.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/sometimes_the_drug_war_makes_me_dizzy

2. FEATURE: CAMP MAKES LITTLE HEADWAY AGAINST CALIFORNIA
MARIJUANA GROWERS
California's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) has been
eradicating pot plants for nearly a quarter-century. It's a
losing battle.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/campaign_against_marijuana_planting_camp_california

3. FEATURE: WISCONSIN MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL TO BE INTRODUCED
Ten years ago this week, Wisconsin medical marijuana patient
Jacki Rickert led a 210-mile "Journey for Justice" to the state
capitol in Madison. This week, she was back and being honored as
two representatives announced they were introducing a medical
marijuana bill with her name on it.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/wisconsin_jacki_rickert_medical_marijuana_bill_introduced

4. APPEAL: MASSIVE INCREASES TO OUR WEB SITE TRAFFIC HAVE
INCREASED OUR COSTS...
Massive increases to our web site traffic, particularly during
the last three months, have forced us to upgrade our web server
-- not once, but twice -- and have increased our costs. We need
your help to pay for it.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/massive_increases_in_web_site_traffic_have_increased_our_costs

5. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
"Company That Killed Iraqi Civilians Gets Lucrative Drug War
Contract," "Chris Dodd Advocates Marijuana Decriminalization,"
"Department of Justice Spends Millions on Munchies," "When Cops
Ask For Machine Guns, You Know the Drug War Has Failed," "DEA
Director Makes Bizarre Remark at Alberto Gonzales Farewell
Ceremony," "Medical Marijuana Advocate Memorialized in US House
of Representatives," people we know sentenced to prison, Richard
Paey pardoned, "Take this Drug Tax and..."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/blogging_at_the_speakeasy

6. STUDENTS: INTERN AT DRCNET AND HELP STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and
you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war

7. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
Not just your usual weekly batch of law enforcement miscreants,
although we do have the mandatory crooked jail guard or two.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/police_drug_corruption

8. PAIN PATIENTS: FLORIDA PRISONER RICHARD PAEY IS PARDONED
Florida pain patient Richard Paey won some justice Thursday when
Gov. Charlie Crist went beyond his family's request for clemency
and instead pardoned him in full. The wheelchair bound prisoner
was three years into a mandatory minimum 25-year sentence as a
drug trafficker for fraudulently trying to obtain pain pills.
Now he is no longer even a convicted felon.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/florida_pain_patient_richard_paey_granted_pardon

9. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: BRYAN EPIS RE-SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN
FEDERAL PRISON
The first California medical marijuana provider prosecuted by
the feds was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison -- again --
but Bryan Epis remains a free man for now.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/bryan_epis_resentenced_for_medical_marijuana

10. DRUG TESTING: ACLU WILL SUE TO BLOCK HAWAII TEACHER TESTING
In return for a wage increase, a Hawaii teachers' union
bargaining unit agreed to a program of random, suspicionless
drug testing of teachers. Now, the ACLU will challenge the
program in court.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/aclu_hawaii_sue_teacher_drug_testing

11. CERTIFICATION: WHITE HOUSE SAYS 20 COUNTRIES ARE MAJOR DRUG
PRODUCING OR TRAFFICKING NATIONS, BUT ONLY TWO POLITICAL ENEMIES
GET DECERTIFIED
In its annual exercise in certifying the compliance of other
countries with US drug policy objectives, the Bush
administration this week listed 20 major producing or
trafficking nations, but singled out only political foes Myanmar
and Venezuela for decertification.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/bush_certification_drugs_countries_major_venezuela_myanmar

12. DEATH PENALTY: FOUR MORE DRUG OFFENDERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
IN VIETNAM, 17 HUNG IN IRAN
Vietnam sentences more people to die for drug trafficking, while
Iran hangs 17 for similar offenses.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/death_penalty_drug_offender_iran_vietnam

13. EUROPE: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE CALLS FOR PILOT
PROJECT ON MEDICINAL OPIUM IN AFGHANISTAN
A committee of the European Parliament has called for a pilot
project for diverting illicit Afghan opium to the licit
medicinal market.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/european_union_committee_afghan_opium_medicine

14. LATIN AMERICA: RIO COPS ROUNDED UP IN DRUG CORRUPTION PROBE
For the second time in less than a year, dozens of Rio de
Janeiro police have been arrested in a drug prohibition-related
corruption sweep.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/rio_de_janeiro_police_arrested_for_drug_corruption

15. WEB SCAN
Drug War Jeopardy, National Household Survey, Stars and Bars,
David Borden interview, WriteAPrisoner
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/drug_policy_links

16. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/drug_war_history

17. ANNOUNCEMENT: PRISON-RELATED POETRY CONTEST BY SHOT CALLER
PRESS, LLC
Shot Caller Press, LLC is conducting a poetry contest with cash
prizes for prisoners, ex-prisoners, family members or friends of
prisoners, prison guards, prison volunteers, or prison workers.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/shot_caller_press_prison_poetry_contest

18. 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/502/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle

19. WEBMASTERS: HELP THE MOVEMENT BY RUNNING DRCNET SYNDICATION
FEEDS ON YOUR WEB SITE!
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War
Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_now_available

20. 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/502/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available

21. 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/502/drug_reform_calendar

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

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

1. Editorial: Sometimes the Drug War Makes Me Dizzy
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/502/sometimes_the_drug_war_makes_me_dizzy

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

Sometimes the drug war makes me dizzy. There's just so much of
it. And it's my job, in part, to keep track of it all.

Just this week, our newsletter presents a dizzying spread of
drug war craziness: cops cutting down marijuana farms, teachers
being drug tested, opium growing tearing up Afghanistan -- and
opium growing supporting Afghanistan -- death penalties in
Vietnam and Iran, diplomatic friction over "certification." We
don't even try to cover all the busts and drug seizures
happening all over the country all of the time -- that would
truly be a dizzying list to try to put together.

What has it all gotten us? The marijuana is still growing, in
comparable quantities. Medical marijuana patients, and their
providers, and opiate pain patients and their doctors, are going
to prison, with governors having to pardon them. Corruption
plagues police forces, abroad and here at home. Terrorists are
earning money off of the drug trade. Half a million drug
offenders fill our jails and prisons (as a report that came out
too late for us to report on this week discusses -- check back
next week). Overdoses, and the spread of HIV and Hepatitis
through drug injection, all continue. And of course, the fabled
drug-free high school continues to be nowhere to be found, and
the drug trade tempts young people everywhere into lives of
crime and places them in danger.

I don't hold the prohibition movement that brought us the drug
laws in especially high regard. At least I don't hold the
prohibitionist part of their activities in high regard. But
neither do I believe that this is what they had in mind or is
what they would have wanted or expected, when they worked to
outlaw drugs early last century. Just as some of the key alcohol
prohibitionists changed sides and worked for repeal for
prohibition after they saw the results, I believe that some of
the early drug prohibitionists would likewise change their view
if they could only see where the path that they helped to steer
us onto has led. It's only because the drug war has built up
slowly, over many decades, that the extremity of the drug war in
its current form is not universally perceived as extreme.
Transplant some early 20th century drug prohibitionists into our
time now and show them the whole picture, they would probably
find it, well, dizzying. As well it should.

Fortunately, Internet activism is mostly a desk job, so if I get
a little dizzy thinking about all of this, I'm not likely to
fall over from it before recovering my balance and hurt myself.
But that doesn't mean I can't get upset. Are you upset about the
drug war too? What can you do about it today?

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

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.

date: 21 Sep 2007 09:24:49 -0800 author: bobbie sellers