LIMA (AP)--Cultivation of coca plants rose by 1.1% in Peru last year, according to a joint U.N.-Peruvian government report, and Peru's anti-drug czar called the increase "alarming." The survey, conducted by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and Peru's government, said 115,400 acres of the coca - used to produce cocaine - were being grown by Peruvian growers at the end of 2002. That was up from 114,160 acres in 2001. "It is an alarming statistic," Nils Ericsson, the head of Peru's anti-drug agency Devida, said Thursday. "Peru maintains a worrisome second-place ranking among cocaine and coca producers worldwide." [continues 351 words]
PITTSBURGH--Tommy Chong, who played one half of the dope-smoking duo in Cheech and Chong movies, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. Chong also pleaded guilty on behalf of his business, Nice Dreams Enterprises, which made a line of marijuana bongs and pipes. Doing business as Chong Glass, Nice Dreams Enterprises sold glass pipes and bongs that Chong acknowledged were used to smoke marijuana. Chong's plea came after federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents purchased his paraphernalia and had them shipped to an undercover business in Beaver Falls. Agents also confiscated his company's paraphernalia during raids of "head shops" in numerous states and confiscated "thousands of marijuana bongs and pipes" in a raid of his Gardena, Calif., business. [continues 440 words]
ATLANTA - The nation's drug czar toured a drug-ridden Atlanta neighborhood on Monday night, catching a glimpse of street corners where nearly any illegal drug is for sale. John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, rode along with police through the Vine City and Washington Park areas, one of the busiest markets for heroin and crack in the South. A group of about a dozen people quickly moved off a side street when unmarked cars approached. Another group didn't move an inch from a busy intersection. [continues 233 words]
WASHINGTON -- Newly released figures suggest that Colombia accounts for most of the heroin in the United States, far more than previously acknowledged by Bush administration officials reluctant to see U.S. drug aid diverted from coca eradication. Heroin is a derivative of opium. Coca is transformed into cocaine . Drug officials had maintained that Colombia accounted for no more than a third of heroin in the United States. A study that suggested otherwise was removed from the Web site of the White House drug policy office because it was considered unscientific and failed to support President Bush's drug policies, according to an April 11 internal e-mail obtained by The Associated Press. [continues 766 words]
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) For the past two years a bill to fully legalize the medical use of marijuana has been snuffed out in the early days of the legislative session. But this year the proposal, which is similar to Maine law, finds itself sitting on the House of Representatives calendar, waiting for a possible floor vote. "I'm more shocked than anybody to get it through the committee process," joked Rep. James Abrams, D-Meriden, the main proponent of the legislation. [continues 694 words]
"This scheme is essentially picking on poor people," Hilary Black, spokesman for the British Columbia Compassion Club Society, told a news conference. "People who are ill tend to be living in the most poverty." They are often forced to choose between food and marijuana because the current laws often force users to pay street prices of between $150 to $300 per ounce, said Black. "The cost of medicinal cannabis right now is closer to the cost of gold than it is to the cost of tomatoes, which in terms of production costs is what it should be closer to," said Black. [continues 96 words]
TORONTO -- Marijuana has been part of Ross Rebagliati's public image since he won an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding, so it was no surprise Wednesday when he supported government plans to decriminalize it. "It's becoming more socially accepted now than it ever had been in the past," Rebagliati said of marijuana while promoting Vancouver's bid to host the 2010 Games. "I think right now it's almost the sign of the times." Rebagliati was initially stripped of his snowboarding gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Games after testing positive for marijuana. The medal was reinstated on appeal. [continues 164 words]
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's prime minister on Wednesday denied that any extrajudicial killings took place during the country's recent war on drugs and said the world should be grateful it is helping to curb the drug trade. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's comments follow criticism by U.S. officials and human rights groups of the high death toll during the anti-drug campaign and charges of extrajudicial killings by security forces. A total of 2,274 people were killed in the three-month campaign that ended April 30, according to official figures. [continues 269 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Legislation to crack down on club drug use is wrapped in a popular child safety package, but critics worry that businesses whose customers use drugs without the proprietors' knowledge could face prosecution under the measures being signed into law Wednesday. ``You could have hotels prosecuted, you could have sporting events prosecuted, basically anything or anywhere you could expect someone to try and use drugs,'' said Marvin Johnson, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer. Bush was signing the Amber Alerts package, which has as its centerpiece a voluntary rapid-response network to help find kidnapped children, on Wednesday. [continues 454 words]
TULIA, Texas - The former sheriff's deputy whose sole testimony led to drug charges against 46 people now faces charges himself - but not stemming from his recently discredited 1999 drug stings. A Swisher County grand jury Thursday indicted Tom Coleman, 43, on three counts of aggravated perjury for allegedly lying on the witness stand during evidentiary hearings involving the busts last month. Prosecutors said too much time had passed to charge Coleman with lying in any of the actual drug cases that bitterly divided this Panhandle town of 5,000 residents. Some complained the arrests were racially motivated. [continues 375 words]
The 1980s-era movement started by young fans of punk and hardcore music was unapologetically clear-headed: no alcohol, no smoking, no drugs. Now that lifestyle - known as "straight edge" - is making a comeback. Inspired by a song of the same name, the movement developed a reputation for intolerance in the 1990s when a few straight-edgers turned militant, starting fights with anyone who challenged their views. Two were convicted in a 1998 killing in Salt Lake City. These days, a small but growing core of young people who live the straight-edge life, also known by the abbreviation "sXe," are trying to reclaim a more positive image by promoting a range of causes, from pacifism and environmentalism to racial diversity. [continues 643 words]
CEDAR CITY, Utah -Marijuana seized during the arrest of medical-marijuana advocate Dennis Peron and two other San Francisco men has been ruled inadmissible, setting the stage for possible dismissal of the case. Fifth District Judge J. Philip Eves ruled Monday that because police entered the motel room of Peron, 56, John Entwistle, 38, and Kasey Conder, 20, on Nov. 14, 2001, without a search warrant, none of the evidence seized could be used during trial. Peron helped draft California's medical marijuana law and was founder of San Francisco's Cannabis Cultivation Club [continues 225 words]
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- The city and county of Santa Cruz has sued Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Drug Enforcement Administration, demanding that federal agents stay away from a farm that grows marijuana for sick and dying people. "This is an opportunity for us to stand behind the people in our community who are the most needy," said Santa Cruz Mayor Emily Reilly. "This is what we do well in Santa Cruz." The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Jose, comes in response to a DEA raid last September at a small pot farm located on a quiet coastal road about 15 miles north of town. Agents uprooted about 165 plants and arrested the owners, Valerie and Michael Corral. [continues 552 words]
LIMA (AP)--Thousands of poor coca farmers converged on Lima Monday, demanding an end to restrictions on their cocaine-producing crop and the release of one of their prominent leaders. The farmers arrived in several groups, which began marching to Lima about 10 days ago from coca-growing mountainous jungle valleys to the northeast and southeast of the capital. Police arrested Nelson Palomino, head of a national organization of coca producers, on Feb. 20, days after farmers in several rural coca-growing regions began a 10-day protest of government plans to destroy coca bushes. [continues 295 words]
In hopes of stopping federal agents from again raiding a farm that provides marijuana to sick and dying people, Santa Cruz officials said they will file a lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Attorneys representing the city and county of Santa Cruz, as well as seven medical marijuana users, said Monday they plan to file the papers Wednesday in San Jose federal court. "The city of Santa Cruz wants to prevent raids on medical marijuana. This is a public health issue to this community," said Santa Cruz City Attorney John Barisone on Monday. [continues 439 words]
WASHINGTON -- U.S. and Canadian officials said Tuesday they had disrupted a major methamphetamine supply system, netting 67 arrests and tons of illegal chemicals. The 18-month investigation, dubbed "Operation North Star," centered on the shipment of pseudoephedrine -- a common nasal decongestant that in large amounts is a key ingredient in methamphetamine -- from three Canadian companies to large illicit labs in the Southwestern U.S. The charges were brought in indictments unsealed Tuesday in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as cases brought in Canada. Among those charged are six current or former executives with three Canadian companies - -- Frega Inc., Formulex and GC Medical Products -- who allegedly diverted thousands of pounds of pseudoephedrine to the U.S. for illegal use. [continues 383 words]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- An Oregon official overseeing the state's medical marijuana program has told a refugee hearing that her program couldn't protect a pot user from U.S. drug laws. Mary Leverette testified by telephone Wednesday for Immigration Canada in a refugee claim by Steve Kubby, formerly of Lake Tahoe, Calif. Leverette said if a medical user is found with more than one ounce of marijuana, he or she could be arrested and charged. Kubby, 56, says he needs far more than that to treat his rare adrenal cancer. [continues 227 words]
A bill that would reduce criminal penalties for seriously ill people who smoke marijuana is headed to the governor. The state Senate approved a medical marijuana bill on Friday by a vote of 30-16. The legislation would set a maximum fine of $100 and no jail time for defendants who can convince a judge they need to smoke marijuana for medical reasons. Under current state law, possession or use of marijuana can bring penalties of up to a year in prison or a $1,000 fine. [continues 139 words]
TULIA, Texas (AP) - Prosecutors said 38 defendants arrested in a controversial 1999 drug sting won't be retried after a judge ruled their convictions were based on questionable testimony from a single undercover agent accused of racial prejudice. Hours after retired state district Judge Ron Chapman urged the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to grant new trials for the defendants, a special prosecutor vowed Tuesday to dismiss the cases if they were sent back. "We'll dismiss them," said Rod Hobson, a special prosecutor assigned to the case that has spurred probes by the Justice Department and the Texas attorney general. "It would be foolish for us to go forward." [continues 646 words]
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Voters in this college town will decide April 8 whether to soften municipal marijuana penalties and allow medicinal use of pot inside the city limits even though possession is illegal under Missouri law. Supporters of Proposition 1 have set up a campaign fund-raising committee, organized benefit concerts and solicited thousands of dollars from national organizations advocating changes in drug laws. One advocacy group, the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, said Monday that it has committed $10,000 to boost the Columbia campaign and would consider sending more money. The local campaign committee's spokeswoman said another national group, the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, has pledged several thousand dollars. [continues 83 words]
