A man found with over pounds 45,000 worth of cannabis has been jailed for eight years by Judge Yvonne Murphy at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Declan Sullivan, 29, of Portland Square, Dublin 1 pleaded guilty to having five kilos of the drug in the attic of his flat. Sullivan would not tell gardai who he was working for, fearing he would be in worse trouble if he co operated. Defence counsel Mr Paul Greene BL told the court his client had a heroin problem that began after he broke up with his girlfriend. [continues 81 words]
The first day of the new Drug Court got off to a relatively smooth start yesterday. Six applicants were brought before Judge Gerard Haughton, who requested that each of them be assessed by medical staff to see if they were suitable for the Drug Court's programme. The Drug Court offers a supervised treatment and rehabilitation regime to non violent drug offenders instead of a prison sentence. "This is not going to be easy; it's not supposed to be easy, but with help you will be able to get through it, if you want to," said Judge Haughton to one of the defendants, Gregory Walsh. [continues 294 words]
THE IOM now confirms that the myths and lies that have supported cannabis prohibition are completely false. The worst thing they can find to say about it is that it is not harmless. Neither are hundreds of other substances that have been legal for 100 plus years. Wake up and smell the propaganda. You want cannabis out of the hands of minors? Legalise it and regulate it. Tax it like we do everything else. Maybe politicians and media are required to adhere to the party line of prohibition because law enforcement, customs, the prison and military industrial complex, the drug testing industry, the drug treatment industry, the INS, the CIA, the FBI, the DEA, the politicians themselves can't live without the budget justification, not to mention the invisible profits, bribery, corruption and forfeiture benefits that prohibition affords them. The drug war promotes, justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement policies and is diminishing many freedoms and liberties that are supposed to be inalienable according to the constitution and Bill of Rights. Myron Von Hollingsworth, 6401, Malvey Avenue, Texas 76116, USA [end]
The first case due before the new Drug Court, yesterday, was put back until next week. The postponement came after experts judged that the defendant in the case was not yet able to comply with the court's treatment regime. "The client is not yet ready to be taken onto the programme," said a spokesman for the Courts Service, which operates the new court. "He is not yet at the emotional stage to recognise that he needs to challenge his behaviour." [continues 302 words]
The long awaited drug court, which will offer treatment and rehabilitation, on a voluntary basis instead of prison to non violent drug offenders, will finally hear its first case tomorrow. This is despite last week's decision by 50 GPs working in Dublin's drug treatment centres not to co operate with it. The GPs, Specialising in Substance Abuse (GPSSA), treat almost 90% of all heroin addicts on methadone maintenance programmes in the Eastern Region Health Authority (ERHA). "This means that there will be no one available to take on any cases from the drug court, except for psychiatrists in Trinity Court who treat the other 10% -- but they already have a waiting list," said GPSSA spokesman Dr Cathal O'Sullivan." [continues 671 words]
Government plans for Drug Courts have been thrown into chaos because doctors will refuse to treat drug offenders when the first such court opens on Tuesday. The decision by GPs means the pilot Drug Court will be badly crippled when it begins operating. "We have placed an embargo on GPs co operating with the Drug Court," said Dr Cathal O'Sullivan of GPs Specialising in Substance Abuse (GPSSA). This includes the City Clinic in Dublin's north inner city, where the vast majority of referrals from the Drug Court will be sent. [continues 355 words]
A SCHOOLBOY suspended for smoking cannabis is to be allowed back to school after a High Court judge ordered his principal to re admit him. Fifteen year old David McKenna has already missed two months of classes in a row between school authorities over his future at Colaiste Raithin, an Irish speaking school in Bray, County Wicklow. The High Court heard yesterday that the boy's principal, Gearoid O'Ciarain, had refused to take him back after a short suspension, despite a decision by Wicklow Vocational Education Committee that the suspension be lifted. [continues 332 words]
A REPORT from Lifeline, in Manchester, states that children as young as six have tried cannabis. What else can we expect when governments leave the trade in the hands of criminals? On February 9, 1925, Colonel William L Barker, Northern Division, Salvation Army, was asked by a Minnesota newspaper about the impact of Prohibition. His response is as relevant to the parents of today as it was to the parents of the time: "Prohibition has diverted the energies of the Salvation Army from the drunkard in the gutter to the boys and girls in their teens." Of course, it would be too much to expect people to learn from history. It makes much more sense to repeat mistakes over and over, ad nauseam. Hugh Robertson, The Legalise Cannabis Alliance, PO Box 198, Norwich, England. [end]
NOT only should medical cannabis be available to patients in need, but adult recreational use should also be regulated. Leaving the distribution of popular recreational drugs in the hands of organised crime puts children at great risk. Unlike legitimate businesses that sell liquor, illegal drug dealers working the black market do not ID for age, but they do push profitable, addictive drugs like heroin when given the chance. Sensible regulation is needed to undermine the black market and restrict access to drugs. Cannabis is the most popular illicit drug. Compared with legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco, cannabis is relatively harmless. Yet cannabis prohibition is deadly. While there is nothing inherent in cannabis that compels users to try harder drugs, its black market status puts users in contact with criminals who push them. As long as cannabis remains illegal, the criminal distribution network will ensure that children sample every toxic poison concocted by drug pushers. Replacing cannabis prohibition with regulation would do a better job protecting children than the failed drug war. Robert Sharpe, MPA, Programme Officer, Lindesmith Drug Policy Foundation, 4455 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC, USA. [end]
BECAUSE of allegations against a member of the Garda in Co Donegal, the DPP told the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday he is not opposing an appeal by a former nightclub owner, Frank Shortt, against his conviction for knowingly permitting his club -- The Point Inn at Quigley's Point, Inishowen -- to be used for the sale and distribution of drugs. Miriam Reynolds SC, for the DPP, also indicated to the court that the DPP would not be seeking a re-trial in relation to Mr Shortt, of Redcastle, Co Donegal because Mr Shortt had already served a three year sentence on foot on his conviction. [continues 245 words]
THE only time Paddy Doyle's spasms stop is when he falls asleep. Doctors have described his condition as the equivalent of being in a gym eight hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. "It's constant involuntary movement which affects the whole body," he said. Mr Doyle, from Inchicore in Dublin, suffers from an incurable disease called Dystonia. "I take loads of pills for my condition, but they don't do any good. The only time I've had relief is when I've smoked cannabis." [continues 251 words]
THE plight of patients who derive a modicum of relief by smoking cannabis was highlighted by the landmark talks involving the Irish and British ministers with responsibility for their national drug strategies. Hopes of a research breakthrough have been raised by a government backed investigation in Britain into the medicinal properties of cannabis. Significantly, it was the key topic when Minister Mo Mowlam and her Dublin counterpart, Minister for State Eoin Ryan, met earlier this week. Dr Mowlam hopes Britain will have a cannabis prescription system in place by 2003. More likely than not, the end product would be a derivative containing various properties of the soft drug. [continues 115 words]
PATIENTS with chronic pain may soon be given cannabis to ease their suffering as the Government considers legalising the drug for medicinal purposes. Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy Eoin Ryan said the Government would consider the initiative after meeting his British counterpart Mo Mowlam in Dublin earlier this week. Minister Mowlam, who heads the UK Drugs Strategy, said she hoped to have a cannabis prescription system in place by 2003. A Government backed trial was due to be completed by the end of next year, after which the cannabis based product would go before the British medical regulatory body for approval, she said. [continues 482 words]
The Government is to consider decriminalising cannabis for medicinal purposes, the Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, Eoin Ryan, said yesterday. After a meeting with his British counterpart, Mo Mowlam, who briefed him on her plans to allow cannabis to be used to relieve pain, Minister Ryan said he would look at the use of the drug as a possible treatment for chronic pain. "Mo Mowlam was telling me about this development and it is something we will be looking at. People recognise it does relieve pain and nausea. [continues 275 words]
It was only to be expected that the Irish Medicine's Board would continue drawing flak for its heavy handed clampdown on the availability of St John's Wort, a herb used by thousands of people to combat mild depression. Since January 1, health shops have been banned from selling the product now only available by prescription as a result of a Government order. Many people will endorse yesterday's protest at the Board's headquarters where the Green Party sought the lifting of the ban. Its call for a separate regulatory body for complementary and traditional medicine merits in depth debate. [continues 132 words]
Horrific accounts of the murder of three young Irishmen in Holland leave no room for doubt on the evils of the worldwide drugs trade. By any standards, the gory evidence of how crazed Dutch addicts killed their victims makes for gruesome reading. The nightmares of the Monahan and Costello families deepened yesterday when they learned how one of the young men was stabbed to death after being shot. Claims that the accused were using enormous amounts of drugs in no way diminishes their responsibility. [continues 402 words]
A High-powered Delegation Is To Travel To Holland To Track Down Drug Barons Supplying The Domestic Market. An all party Oireachtas committee confirmed last night that it has launched an investigation into the European drugs trade to put some of the country's most notorious dealers out of business. It hopes to identify suppliers with the help of the authorities in each EU State. Many of Ireland's leading crime lords fled to Holland and other European states four years ago following a crackdown by the Criminal Assets Bureau in the wake of journalist Veronica Guerin's murder. [continues 306 words]
Two men who were caught with cannabis valued at pounds 145,000 have each been jailed for six years by Judge Elizabeth Dunne at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Englishman Roy Foster, 52, and Dutchman Jan August Neijens, 49, both with addresses in the south of Spain, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply and to unlawful importation of the drugs on February 5, 2000. Detective Garda Danny Kelly told Mr Paul Coffey BL, prosecuting, that on foot of confidential information he got a search warrant for a flat in Abbey Street, Dublin. Foster was there when the search began and Neijens arrived in a taxi shortly afterwards. [continues 255 words]
JUDGE Elizabeth Dunne at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has ordered the forfeiture of pounds 51,300 cash she was told belonged to a notorious Cork drugs dealing family. The cash was seized by customs officer Roisin Wiseman at Dublin Airport on August 11, 1998, from a Cork man who had an open return ticket to Amsterdam and said he didn't know who was to meet him there to collect the money. Judge Dunne was told that Customs and Excise officials believed the money was being taken to Holland for a man named in an affidavit before the court as John Martin Flynn, otherwise known as Seanie Flynn, who was caught soon afterwards there with 35,000 ecstasy tablets. [continues 218 words]
A man facing drugs charges was yesterday gunned down at his home by two masked men. Donal Keenan, 24, was seriously injured after being shot in the stomach and right elbow. The attack took place early in the morning at the man's home at Galtymore Close in Drimnagh, south west Dublin. Mr Keenan was charged last week in relation to the possession of a substantial amount of ecstasy. It is suspected that dealers in business with Mr Keenan may have carried out the attack. [continues 271 words]
There were moving scenes in the Dublin City Coroner's Court as the devastated relatives of four men heard their loved ones had died after taking various drug cocktails. Coroner Dr Brian Farrell tried to console the grieving families and warned of the dangers of using a cocktail of methadone, benzodiazepines (a prescribed sedative) and heroin. Martin O'Shea, 17, from Coolock, Shane Fitzgerald, 21, from Fatima Mansions and George Lennon, 24, of Templeogue all died after taking some or all of these drugs. [continues 199 words]
Bishop Pat Buckley will this morning illegally provide a heroin addict with methadone in an attempt to get him off the drug. Bishop Buckley, who's own nephew committed suicide as a result of drug addiction three years ago, said he decided to help the addict, called Fred, after he was told he had to wait up to six months for treatment. "Fred will administer the methadone himself, but under my supervision," said Bishop Buckley. The bishop, who attempted to buy methadone on the street in Dublin on Tuesday night, made an appeal on the Marian Finucane radio show yesterday for help. [continues 357 words]
CANNABIS use among schoolchildren in Ireland is among the highest in Europe, a drugs report reveals. A comprehensive survey from the EU drugs agency in Lisbon says cannabis is the most widely used illegal substance among Irish schoolchildren, with substantially increased use in the last decade. More than one in three 15 to 16 year olds have tried illegal drugs in their lifetime. The report also reveals while cannabis is the most widely used drug, many children have also tried heroin, amphetamines, hallucinogenics and cocaine. [continues 270 words]
Eoin Ryan, Minister of State, has the mote of drug prohibition firmly lodged in his eye if he believes heroin is doing most of the damage. The drug prohibition laws do all the damage. Mr Ryan proves he does not understand the most fundamental of economic laws, the law of supply and demand, if he believes a crackdown on importing heroin will solve anything. Build a better mouse trap and the mice get smarter. The idea that vices are crimes has been an abysmal world wide failure. Governments world wide have decided to redefine their drug wars. It turns out that vices are somehow now medical disorders that can be treated. Control language and you control mankind, said George Orwell. Since the separation of the Church and State we have learned to do the moralising in medical terms. Addictions and alcoholism are myths and the theory that supports them have never been proven. [continues 209 words]
The Swedish drugs adviser, Borje Dahl, claims that the restrictive Swedish narcotics policy has succeeded in reducing the number of young people using drugs in the country to under 3% (Irish Examiner, September 6, 2000). His claim is not supported by the Swedish Government's own published figures. According to that report the use of illegal drugs in Sweden is escalating out of control. Drug use amongst young people has more than doubled during the 1990s, with 18% of young men now using drugs. [continues 95 words]
The Minister in charge of the Government's National Drugs Strategy said he was unhappy with the number of heroin seizures. Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Eoin Ryan, said he was concerned that while overall drug seizures increased, the number of heroin seizures actually fell. "Considering heroin is doing the most damage, I would like to see more heroin seizures by gardai. There's an awful lot of seizures of other drugs. That's good work, but I'd definitely like to see more heroin seizures."He said he realised heroin arriving in smaller packages than most other drugs, and was therefore more difficult to find. But he added: "I would love to see the level of heroin seizures way up, much higher than it is at present." [continues 305 words]
The coroner could not find the words to describe the tragedy that had befallen Hugh and Eileen Harris. In the space of just three weeks the polite, quietly spoken Dublin parents had lost their two sons. On October 31, 1999, Hugh junior died. A long time heroin addict, he took a deadly cocktail of methadone, the heroin substitute, and two types of sedatives. Three weeks later on the November 21, their other son, Paul, died. Another heroin addict, Paul also took a lethal combination of drugs, including methadone. [continues 690 words]
There was a 5% increase in the number of drug seizures last year, although gardai are now channelling greater resources into tackling drink driving. "The figures show that there are a lot of drugs available," said Dr Jim Donovan, director of the Forensic Science Laboratory, where drugs seized by the gardai are tested. "The number of cases are a good indication that gardai are coming across drugs more easily. A lot of emphasis now is on drunkenness and drink driving, so the fact that they are still coming across a large number of cases is a good indication of availability," he said. [continues 369 words]
Nights of business as usual came back to haunt 46 drug dealers when they were hauled before the courts charged with selling heroin to undercover gardai. In a swoop on dozens of addresses in Dublin city and suburbs early yesterday morning, Drug Squad detectives paid return visits to demand some after sales service from their suppliers. And in a small but satisfying victory for Operation Clean Street 5, all 46 sellers were arrested, charged, brought before the district courts and placed well on their way to hefty fines or a spell in Mountjoy. [continues 366 words]
Gardai believe the Provisional IRA were behind the failed assassination attempt on a Dublin drug dealer who has survived four gun attacks. Martin ‘The Viper’ Foley, 50, escaped with his life after a hit man tried to kill him on Tuesday evening. Foley, from Cashel Avenue, Crumlin, was leaving the swimming pool in Terenure on Tuesday night when two men pulled up on a motorbike. He was hit three times in the legs, before his assailants escaped on the high powered bike towards Crumlin. [continues 306 words]
Clashnacree House in Sneem, Co. Kerry, may have been owned by a Dutch drug lord but that hasn't keep prospective buyers away from the pounds 1m mansion. In fact, a number of people have already made approaches to the Criminal Assets Bureau seeking to buy it, senior gardai revealed last night. On foot of a High Court ruling last week, the way has now been cleared for the sale of the period 19th century mansion, on 20 acres of land by Parknasilla golf club and hotel on Kerry's Gold Coast. [continues 220 words]
Loyalist paramilitary drug dealers have been blamed for a bomb attack which left a man badly injured in Northern Ireland yesterday. Sandy Rice fell from his van with serious leg wounds when a device exploded under his seat as he drove through Bangor, Co. Down. Two other men escaped the blast, just hours after a bomb wrecked the Shankill Road offices of the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), the political wing of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).Components for pipe bombs, the tail fin of a mortar bomb, balaclavas and combat clothing were later found in the debris, police revealed. [continues 349 words]
Instead, they assess the benefits and dangers, says the report, Choosers or Losers?, published today by the Children's Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin. For those who abuse drugs, "judgments about relative `safety' versus `risk' associated with using various substances strongly influenced their drug choices", the report by Ms Paula Mayock says. To conduct the study, Ms Mayock spent more than a year in a Dublin inner-city area which has had high levels of drug problems for nearly two decades. [continues 317 words]
Drug treatment services for heroin addicts have failed and should be discontinued, a drugs conference in Dublin was told yesterday. Several speakers voiced their concern at the continuing emphasis of the methadone substitution programme offered by health authorities to heroin addicts. "We have to adopt a different strategy towards drug abuse or we're looking at a bleak and desolate future for our young people," said Marie Byrne, director of the Aisling Group, the Navan based drug treatment centre. Swedish drugs advisor, Borje Dahl, told the conference that Sweden had make a major mistake when it introduced a liberal drug policy in the 1960s by decriminalising many substances. "The numbers of addicts increased and crime also rose," he observed. With a more restrictive drugs policy currently in place, the number of young Swedes using drugs for the first time has fallen from 15% to less than 3%. [end]
Members of a Dutch based international drugs gang, allegedly headed by Dublin gangland figure, John Cunningham, have been jailed for plotting to transport huge quantities of ecstasy pills and Cannabis resin between the Netherlands and Ireland. Two Englishmen, described as "cogs in the wheel of a major drug smuggling operation" were given prison sentences of two years at Amsterdam District Court yesterday. Judges refused to release one of the accused, a 72 year old pensioner, who suffered a stroke while on remand in prison on humanitarian grounds and is said to be seriously ill. The court had heard earlier that both men were close associates of Jennifer Guinness kidnapper John Cunningham whose own trial on charges connected to an pounds 8 million drugs and weapons smuggling operation is due to start in Holland next month. [continues 215 words]
A convicted drugs trafficker has succeeded in preventing the Criminal Assets Bureau from selling all lands recently seized at Sneem, Co. Kerry. Jan Hendrik Ljpelaar, from Rotterdam in Holland, was granted a stay on the sale of ten acres at Greenane, which he claimed he had bought with personal finances not tainted with drug trafficking. He said he did not own Clashnacree House, Derryquinn, Sneem, set on 20 acres, which was also seized by the Bureau last month. Mr Ljpelaar said the Derryquinn property was owned by a Swiss company, Marbella Assets, in which he had sold all his shares eight years ago. [continues 281 words]
A 22 year old Dublin mother of two arrested at Dublin Airport after drugs worth up to pounds 1 million were found in her luggage has been refused bail in the High Court. Mr Justice Aindreas O'Caoimh heard the drugs had been found on August 24 in three pairs of thick soled sandals in luggage belonging to Ms Bridget Boyne on her return from the West Indies. Garda Tracy Howard said she believed that if Boyne, with addresses in Darndale and Finglas, was granted bail she would not turn up for her trial. She told Micheal P Higgins, counsel for the State, that Boyne was facing three charges in relation to exportation and possession of drugs and with possession with intent to supply. Garda Howard told the court she had received reliable information that Ms Boyne and the father of her two children had gathered together a large stash of money which they intended to use to abscond. She said that should the court consider granting bail she would ask for a substantial independent surety but would not be hopeful, even with such a surety in place, that Boyne would turn up for her trial. [continues 224 words]
Over pounds 400,000 worth of drugs is being traded in Galway each week and heroin is now a problem in the city, a government minister revealed yesterday. TD for Galway West, Frank Fahey said the growing problem highlighted the urgent need for more gardai in the city. Mr Fahey said levels of violence on the streets had increased and there was a noticeable switch to harder drugs despite extraordinary efforts by gardai to control the drugs flow. Minister Fahey, who met Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne along with the Minister for Justice John O'Donoghue, to call for extra garda manpower in Galway, said that there was a feeling at garda HQ that there was enough manpower on the streets. That attitude was not acceptable, he said. "The gardai in Galway have done extraordinary work in their battle against the drugs trade. Estimates are that pounds 400,000 worth of drugs are being sold in the city every week, but my particular concern now is that there are reports of heroin being used, whereas 12 months ago, it was not. If this trade gets a hold, it will mean the death knell for Galway. [continues 108 words]
I WOULD like to add my voice to those concerned about the people of Columbia, a plight well illustrated by the situation Colombian Peace Communities and Fr Brendan Forde find themselves. Eschewing arms and asking only that they should be left in peace, these rural folk now see their members massacred. They live in mortal terror of Columbia's so called Malitia. Brendan Ford and what remains of the Colombian Peace Communities will have a better chance of staying alive if people speak out. While the Death Squads are an unofficial arm of the Colombian establishment, the Colombian Government itself looks successfully to the US for military support. The murderers of Fr Ford's parishioners are not merely militiamen. They are also the politicians and military bureaucrats of Washington who place guns in the hands of the killers for their own gain. [end]
PRISON officials have made more than 600 drug seizures, including heroin and cannabis, in Irish jails over the last two years. Figures just released show there were at least 622 hauls between April 1998 and April 2000. However, informed sources believe this represents just a fraction of the amount of drugs being smuggled into jails. 93I'm not surprised by that amount, I would have thought it would be a lot more,94 said Dr Des Crowley, a medical officer in Mountjoy Jail. [continues 332 words]
THE revelation that there were 622 drug seizures in Irish jails over the past two years might be taken as a sign that the problem of addiction among prisoners is under control. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything the latest detection figures, brought to light under the Freedom of Information Act, represent the tip of the iceberg. Experts agree that the statistics reflect only a fraction of the amount of drugs being smuggled into prisons like Mountjoy to feed the habit of addicted prisoners. [continues 407 words]
How would you feel if armed soldiers, financially coerced by a foreign power -- Bolivia, for example -- were to rampage through the vineyards of, say, Bordeaux, La Rioja, perhaps the Napa Valley, slashing and burning grapevines as part of a crusade against wine? How outraged would you be? Would it signal something terrifyingly Orwellian? How would you react? Doubtless any self respecting plonk aficionado would be furious if a bunch of remote foreign politicians paid for localised eradication squads to rampage through the West's wine growing regions. The very idea is absurd. [continues 1173 words]
An Irish priest who risks death by defying Colombian drug lords last night spoke of his determination to continue in South America protecting the poor. Franciscan priest Fr Brendan Forde has been subjected to death threats over his stance, but last night he insisted on remaining in the troubled hotspot. "It is not the poor who are our enemy or who are responsible for our drug problems," he said. "Other people are responsible for our drug problems but it is the poor who get punished." [continues 255 words]
COLOMBIA is one of the most violent places on earth with an average of 30 murders and seven kidnappings a day. In the last 15 years, 200 bombs have exploded, four presidential candidates, 200 judges, 151 journalists and 300,000 ordinary citizens have been murdered. All of this murder and endemic violence is intimately bound up with the drug trade, paramilitaries, and long-standing rebellion against social injustice. Against this background an Irish priest, Fr Brendan Forde, has taken a stand with ordinary Colombians, displaced people who have refused to be forced from their lands. [continues 1124 words]
Violence is endemic in Colombia, centre of the drugs trade and one of the most dangerous places on earth. By any assessment, the sheer scale of mayhem is mind boggling. An estimated 30 murders and seven kidnappings occur every day. In 15 years four presidential candidates, 200 judges, 151 journalists and 300,000 ordinary Colombians have been murdered. Underlying the violence is a long running rebellion against social injustice which has catapulted an Irish priest, Fr Brendan Forde, into national prominence. He has emerged as a champion of ordinary people, evicted from their lands in the civil war between guerrillas, the military and right wing death squads. [continues 116 words]
IN response to the letter in the Irish Examiner (August 25), headed Dope inhibits cancer fighting, I wish to point out that the same can be said for alcohol. Cannabis has no lethal dose and its pharmacological effects have never caused a single death in recorded history. The (unseen) driving force against medical (or unrestricted adult) legalisation of cannabis is the fact that it can't be patented. This precludes the need for big business to be involved and that fact makes cannabis commercially unattractive, pharmaceutically speaking. It seems that if it can't be profitised successfully the government can't justify legalisation even for the sick and dying. [continues 63 words]
IT seems to me we have never been able to come to grips with difference in this country. Most people object to Travellers living near them. People have an equal dislike for centres for the treatment of drug addicts being located close by. The prevailing attitude is "fine, as long as they are not on my doorstep." Neither group is welcomed by the local community. No one has the right to deny or challenge the most basic rights of any group in the community. What about the community of faith? A society without good works is dead. Drug addicts have the right to be treated and rehabilitated. [continues 74 words]
According to Joseph O’Callaghan’s letter (Irish Examiner, August, 25), “people who smoke or eat cannabis have fewer of these little cancer fighters (T lymphocytes)”, implying they are more prone to cancer. However, research documented on the UK Medicinal Cannabis Project web site(www.medicinal cannabis.org) indicates that cannabis may help protect against the development of some tumours. To quote from the web site: “One study examined the effects of delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), delta 8 THC and cannabinol on cancer cells in mice lungs. Researchers reported that cannabinoids reduced the size of the tumours by 25 82%, depending on dose and duration of treatment.” Similar findings have been made with respect to breast cancer. Phil Stovell, Petersfield, Hampshire, UK [end]
BILL CLINTON left for Colombia yesterday on the first trip there by a US President in a decade, to show friendship and solidarity with Colombians in their war against drugs and rebels. Mr Clinton, who returned on Tuesday from a trip to Nigeria, Tanzania and Egypt, was accompanied by his daughter Chelsea on the flight from Andrews Air Force base to the Caribbean resort of Cartagena. Mr Clinton will hold formal talks with Colombian President Andres Pastrana and have lunch with him during his day long visit to Colombia. The President will also inspect drug interdiction efforts in the Port of Cartagena and meet members of the Colombian national police and talk to widows of police officers killed in the line of duty. In a videotaped message to the Colombian people on Tuesday, Mr Clinton said he would bring a message of friendship and solidarity for the Colombian people, for Pastrana and for Plan Colombia, the $7.5 billion anti drug plan to which the United States is contributing $1.3 billion. [continues 454 words]
The picture of the monster sized hash pipe accompanying the Irish Examiner's recent article by Suzanne Harrington may be a little off putting to some innocent souls, I hope. I was half expecting an address or contact phone number at the end to help us get some of this magic stuff. What sillyness. Do we really need to spur our kids on to consider cannabis? The country is full of drugs and baby sized gangsters. Let me clarify a point in the article. The brain receptors mentioned are there for binding with internally made chemicals, of which external drugs are but pale analogs. The scientific work to prove this has been done. The active ingredient of cannabis, THC, gathers mostly in the spleen. The spleen manufactures little soldiers called T lymphocytes. These little soldiers fight cancers and other nasty infections. People who smoke or eat cannabis have fewer of these little cancer fighters. Joseph O `Callaghan Jnr, Main St, Ballyclough, Mallow, Co Cork. [end]
