A worker trims cannabis at a growing facility near the northern city of Safed, Israel. (Photographer: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) A few years back Israeli cannabis smokers grappled with the notion that their drug money often enriched the country's foes. These days, they're more likely to light up marijuana produced in Tel Aviv basements or villas outside Jerusalem than hashish smuggled in from abroad. "Marijuana has quietly become the main product here," said Daniel Nahum, a former paratrooper who first noticed the change when he began smelling pot in bohemian neighborhoods of Jaffa, an ancient port city south of Tel Aviv. [continues 815 words]
Escalating Violence Is Forcing Mexican President Calderon to Open Discussion on a New Strategy to Fight Drugs: Legalization A record number of homicides is forcing Mexican President Felipe Calderon to discuss a new strategy in his country's war on drugs: legalization. Calderon said for the first time earlier in August that he was willing to rethink measures to fight trafficking after the death toll in the war he started against the cartels in December 2006 reached 28,000. In the latest atrocity, 72 bodies were found on Aug. 25 at a remote ranch near the U.S. border. [continues 740 words]
"HANDS UP, AND BACK AWAY FROM THE BROWNIES" Raids and Arrests Are Up, but So Are the Number of Dispensaries--and More States Are Coming Aboard. Activists Say Regulation Could Help When California voters approved the nation's first medical-marijuana law in 1996, the idea was to help people like Jamie Green, a 73-year-old cancer patient who says he can't stand traditional painkillers such as morphine and Vicodin. "One puff and my pain is gone," he says. Alas, medicinal marijuana is producing nothing but pain for California politicians and law enforcement officials. [continues 949 words]
Who is more tech-savvy--drug traffickers or federal agents? The answer may determine who wins the war on drugs The war on terrorism grabs most of the headlines these days, but the war on drugs is still very much underway. With legal and illegal entry into the country falling under heavier scrutiny, the work of preventing terrorism and keeping illegal drugs out of the country often overlap, and often put to use some of the same tools. As with the war on terror, fighting drug use is a highly segmented endeavor. Its missions include everything from after-school programs to keep kids busy to elaborate sting operations targeting the substances and those who make and move them. Various government agencies still fight the war in traditional ways by patrolling national borders in search of smugglers and searching out drug producing operations. But nowadays those on the front lines of the drug war are getting some pretty cool toys. [continues 299 words]
Confiscated goods -- seized from recent corporate hooligans -- offer buyers a wealth of hard-to-find options. On your mark, shoppers It was a chilly Thursday morning in an industrial neighborhood a half-hour's drive south of Los Angeles. But that didn't stop 1,500 people from turning out to bid at a government auction sponsored by the Treasury Dept. As a propeller-tongued auctioneer and four assistants known as "ring-men" worked the crowd, more than 300 confiscated items were auctioned. Among the treasures: gold ingots and coins seized from an illegal "digital gold" money-transfer business and a 2002 BMW 530i taken from a nurse who committed Medicare fraud. [continues 574 words]
The Conventional One Has Been Highly Costly, With Little Return. Making Narcotics Legal -- And Very Expensive -- Can Reduce Addiction And Crime Starting with Richard Nixon, every U.S. President has declared war on drugs. The FBI, CIA, DEA, military, and countless prosecutors have devoted enormous resources to combating narcotics over the past several decades. According to an estimate by Boston University economist Jeffrey A. Miron, federal, state, and local governments have put some $33 billion in resources toward prosecuting the war on drugs in recent years. [continues 1155 words]
The Government Has Yet to Prove That Its $200 Million-A-Year Media Campaign Is Effective, Leading to All Sorts of Carping The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy on Oct. 4 chose a new advertising agency, Foote Cone & Belding, to lead its $200 million-per-year anti-drug advertising effort aimed at parents and children. The previous agency, Ogilvy & Mather, was accused of overbilling the government, but that's hardly the only controversy dogging the government's six-year-old anti-drug ad effort. [continues 954 words]
His Anti-Narcotics Drive Is Drawing Applause From Washington It was the first time in Mexico that television cameras were allowed inside a military courtroom, and viewers got an eyeful. Newscasts aired clips of the trial of two army generals accused of using military aircraft to help drug traffickers move cocaine and marijuana through Mexico to the U.S. On Nov. 1, General Francisco Quiros and Brigadier General Arturo Acosta were stripped of their rank and handed 15- and 16-year prison sentences, respectively. [continues 705 words]
Former federal agent had skipped out on charges that he sold information from law enforcement computers to a private investigations firm A 12-year veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who went on the run last February rather than face federal computer crime charges was arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico last month, and is now being held without bail in Los Angeles where he faces new charges for his brief turn as a fugitive. Emilio Calatayud, 35, skipped out on a $100,000 property bond on what was scheduled to be his first day of trial on felony charges of illegally selling sensitive information about private citizens from law enforcement computers. [continues 585 words]
The Bush Administration appears determined to continue the war on drugs that has been actively pursued by all U.S. governments since the Nixon Administration. I believe this is a serious mistake because that approach has failed badly. Legalizing marijuana, and even some hard drugs, may be a more effective alternative. Defenders of the war on drugs often throw in an economic argument: It has been successful because it curtails use by raising street prices. It does this because suppliers have to be compensated for the risk of imprisonment and other punishments. [continues 731 words]
The True Story of an American Manhunt Unlike Any Other, Ever By David Harris - Little, Brown & Co. -- 394pp -- $26.95 In late December, 1989, six soldiers from Operation Just Cause--as the U.S. invasion of Panama was called--kicked open the door of General Manuel Noriega's office, hoping to arrest him. Instead, they found a good deal of cash, assorted pornographic materials and sex toys, a collection of porcelain frogs, and a framed picture of Adolf Hitler. There was also a Santeria altar, upon which animal entrails had been arrayed in hopes of bringing ill fortune to several people listed on an attached piece of paper. Near the top of the list were the American prosecutor and Drug Enforcement Agency investigator responsible for chasing Noriega down--evidence of the high quality of Noriega's counterintelligence. [continues 789 words]
The Supreme Court's Ruling Against Medicinal Marijuana Isn't Chilling A British Drugmaker's Plans To Test An Oral Spray In The U.s. That Supreme Court ruling against the medical use of marijuana wasn't a total downer for those who want the weed made legal for treating pain and other ailments. GW Pharmaceuticals, a British company that's developing medications derived from marijuana, says it's pushing ahead with plans to start clinical trials in the U.S., with an eye toward bringing the world's first cannabis-based prescription drug onto the market as early as 2003. In fact, the company announced plans for an initial public offering on May 14, only hours before the high court issued its decision. [continues 580 words]
Colombians' Frustration Fires Uribe Velez' Presidential Bid BOGOTA -- Six months ago, Alvaro Uribe Velez was a mere blip on Colombia's political radar screen. With his support among voters at a lowly 5%, Uribe Velez' chances of winning the presidency in May, 2002, elections looked slim at best. But now more voters are paying heed to the former governor and ex-senator and his get-tough-on-crime message. Uribe Velez' standing in the polls has jumped to 17%, a sign that he is fast finding converts among the growing number of Colombians who are frustrated by government efforts to end nearly forty years of civil war. [continues 769 words]
If U.S. drug warriors succeed in their Sisyphean task of eradicating the supply of coca in South America, domestic methamphetamine production will boom to meet the demand (''The war on coca: How far will the U.S. go?'' International Business, Nov. 20). Thanks to successes at eradicating marijuana overseas, a resulting increase in domestic cultivation has made marijuana America's No. 1 cash crop. As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply. Destabilizing entire countries will not make America drug-free, but sensible regulation could feasibly undermine the volatile black market. As the most popular illicit drug, marijuana provides the contacts that introduce Americans to harder drugs. This ''gateway'' is a direct result of marijuana's illegal status, not the plant itself. Illegal drug dealers do not I.D. for age, but they do push more profitable, addictive drugs such as cocaine or heroin when given the chance. Regulation is desperately needed to restrict access to drugs. As counterintuitive as it may seem, replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation would ultimately do a better job protecting children from drugs than funding civil war in Colombia. Robert Sharpe, Lindesmith Center -- Drug Policy Foundation Washington [end]
Destabilizing entire countries will not make America drug-free, but sensible regulation could feasibly undermine the volatile black market. As the most popular illicit drug, marijuana provides the contacts that introduce Americans to harder drugs. This ''gateway'' is a direct result of marijuana's illegal status, not the plant itself. Illegal drug dealers do not I.D. for age, but they do push more profitable, addictive drugs such as cocaine or heroin when given the chance. Regulation is desperately needed to restrict access to drugs. As counterintuitive as it may seem, replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation would ultimately do a better job protecting children from drugs than funding civil war in Colombia. Robert Sharpe, Lindesmith Center, Drug Policy Foundation Washington [end]
BOGOTA -- Life in the southern Colombian province of Putumayo has never been easy. But for the 350,000 residents of this coca-growing outpost on the border with Ecuador, it's hard to see how it could get any worse. For seven weeks now, left-wing rebels and right-wing paramilitaries have been waging a pitched battle for control of the province, which is home to half of Colombia's 300,000 acres of coca fields. A guerrilla-organized blockade has reduced supplies of fuel and food to a trickle. Hundreds of people have already crossed over into Ecuador. Those who remain are bracing for more hardship. [continues 582 words]
Two letters from readers took exception to "Tough justice is saving our inner cities" (Economic Viewpoint, July 17) by claiming that police are merely cracking down on harmless drug users. This couldn't be further from the truth. The crimes the police are diligently reducing are shown in the Justice Dept. document NCJ175687, Table 16. For year-end 1997 (the latest compilation available) the table lists 1,100,500 persons sentenced for all crimes and 227,400, or 21%, of these for drug offenses. Regarding blacks, the table lists 511,700 blacks sentenced in state courts for all crimes and only 127,700, or 25% of these for drug offenses. [continues 96 words]
Much of the police crackdown on inner-city crime involves a crackdown on people associated with illegal drugs in some way. If these people were not subjected to police actions because the drugs were legally regulated, and if drug use were treated similarly to alcohol and tobacco use, crime would drop dramatically, and the costs to society would plummet. Instead, we have handed a monopoly to organized crime, ruined many lives, and drawn unflattering international attention to ourselves because of our astronomical incarceration rate. Rather than treat those who seek treatment to get off drugs and leave the rest alone, we dispense a brutal solution to their problems and in turn create greater problems for society. Keith Brilhart, Decatur, Ill. [end]
Regarding ''Tough justice is saving our inner cities'' (Economic Viewpoint, July 17): I can't believe Gary Becker had the nerve to put his offensive views on paper or that BUSINESS WEEK would publish them. Blacks are beneficiaries of tough justice? Give me a break! The drug war is arguably waged in a racist manner, with African-Americans bearing the brunt of zero-tolerance law enforcement. Violent crime continues to trend downward, yet the Land of the Free recently earned the dubious distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in the world. [continues 165 words]
Regarding ''Tough justice is saving our inner cities'' (Economic Viewpoint, July 17): I can't believe Gary Becker had the nerve to put his offensive views on paper or that BUSINESS WEEK would publish them. Blacks are beneficiaries of tough justice? Give me a break! The drug war is arguably waged in a racist manner, with African-Americans bearing the brunt of zero-tolerance law enforcement. Violent crime continues to trend downward, yet the Land of the Free recently earned the dubious distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in the world. [continues 290 words]
